Wayne Brady Reveals He Has a Son: ‘How Loved He Is!’ (Exclusive)

The ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ host, his 21-year-old daughter and the rest of his ‘Core Four’ share with PEOPLE how they handled the revelation that Brady’s ex-girlfriend was expecting his child

As an entertainer who thrives in improvised situations, Wayne Brady is used to surprises. But he couldn’t have been prepared for the curve ball of learning his ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his son.

During a recent interview with PEOPLE, Brady, 52, discussed the revelation, which he shared for the first time in the series premiere of his new Free form reality show Wayne Brady: The Family Remix.

“I was shocked,” he tells PEOPLE exclusively of learning that his ex, Tina, whom he dated off and on during the pandemic, was pregnant in 2022. “I asked the silly question that I think many men since the beginning of time have asked. “’How?’ You know how! So get past it.”

Brady received the news that Tina was pregnant several weeks after the family had returned from Brady’s grandmother Valerie’s funeral in the Virgin Islands. When the baby boy was born, he was named Val Henry.

Brady is determined for Val to feel loved and valued the way his 21-year-old daughter Maile Brady, whom he shares with ex-wife and best friend Mandie Taketa, 48, felt growing up.

“I never want Val to grow up thinking that he should be ashamed or look back and go, ‘Oh, my dad didn’t want me,’ or he was ashamed of me. Because I want him, in his own way, to know that I love him as much as I love Maile, who is of me and that I had a part in creating,” he continues. “So I had to do that work.”

Maile recalls having “mixed feelings” when she heard she would be a sister again, partly because “it came out of left field in a lot of ways.”