Karamo was the first gay black man to appear on MTV's 2004 season of The Real World, and unbeknownst to him, his son was watching. But two years later, after receiving papers demanding overdue child support, Brown called the Texas attorney general's office and learned that the mother moved away shortly after becoming pregnant at 15.

He immediately jumped on a flight from Los Angeles to Texas and eventually met (with permission from the mother) his then 10-year-old son, Jason. He received custody in 2007, and in 2010, Karamo adopted Jason's half-brother, Chris, so that the siblings wouldn't be separated. Citing the broken relationship he had with his father, Karamo didn't want his son to grow up the same. "People say, 'You saved his life,'" he told The Advocate about Jason. "And I say, 'No, he saved mine.'"

At the time of this writing, Jason is 21 and Chris is 18, but when Kamaro is your father, you get a front row seat for a daily culture class. Instilling the value of living in the moment, Kamaro gave his sons a rule: no phones after 7 p.m. "I think it's imperative that we start to figure out a way that kids can learn how to disconnect," he told People. Same applies to concerts. He continued, "I want them to be in the moment."

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