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Elle King isn’t the only superstar in her family! The “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer, 34, is the daughter of actors Rob Schneider and London King, who got married in 1988 and divorced in 1990 the year after Elle was born. Elle is a four-time Grammy Award nominee and she’s set to host New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash on CBS on December 31. Over the years, Elle has been open about having famous parents, and how her relationship with her dad hasn’t always been the best.
Keep reading to learn more about Elle’s parents and her relationships with them.
Rob Schneider
Rob Schneider, 60, is Elle’s father. Rob is a famous actor and comedian, best known for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1988 to 1994. Some of Rob’s most popular movies include Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, 50 First Dates, The Benchwarmers, and Grown Ups.
After Rob’s divorce, Elle was raised by her mother and her stepfather, Justin Tesa, in Ohio. That led to Elle and Rob having a strained relationship while she was growing up. “My whole childhood, my dad was a workaholic,” Elle told PEOPLE in 2018.
In another interview with PEOPLE in 2023, Elle said, “I was the chubby girl with a dad that didn’t visit very often, and everybody made fun of me and were mean to me about it.” She also revealed that she wasn’t talking to her dad when she released her self-titled EP in 2012.
“Growing up as somebody who was chubby, awkward, funny, has OCD and is weird and quirky and awkward but super sensitive, I had to really fight to be OK as myself. So I didn’t want to be known as someone’s kid,” Elle said. “I wanted to be my own person. I never wanted to borrow money from anybody, and I’ve worked hard for my family and for me. I want to have a life built for myself, and I want to know that I did it.”
After years of being estranged, the “America’s Sweetheart” singer reconnected with her father after her tumultuous divorce from Andrew Ferguson in 2017. She told PEOPLE that her and Rob reconciled partly because of her half-sisters Miranda and Madeline, who Rob shares with wife Patricia Azarcoya Arce.
“We both have grown up a lot. And you realize what’s important,” Elle said. “Him having children — I wanted my sisters to have good memories of me from their childhood when they grew. Family really is so important. So through that, me just kind of showing up and trying to be good for them, really made it easy because there were no bad motives. When it’s about the kids, the bulls*** kind of goes away. I love him.”
In her Feb. 2023 interview with PEOPLE, Elle said that the father-daughter duo have “a beautiful and really wonderful, great loving relationship with awesome boundaries.” They got even closer after Elle and fiancé Dan Tooker welcomed their son Lucky in 2021.
London King
London King, 52, is Elle’s mother. London is a former model and actress who was in the films A Better way To Die, Raw Fish, and The Calling, according to her IMDb. After getting divorced from Rob in 1990, London remarried and she and her husband Justin raised Elle in Ohio. London has maintained a close relationship with her daughter over the years.
After Elle gave birth to her son in 2021, the singer praised her mom for being “the best doula ever” with a photo of London cooking her placenta.
“Appreciation post! My mother, the angel of all angels is the best doula ever!” Elle wrote in her post. “I will get into my birth story when I’m ready … but this person is my best friend. She helped us get the whole house ready and even though Lucky ended up a belly birth, she was my doula through the whole process, and most importantly she was the best mom I could ask for. She is seen here cooking my placenta to encapsulate it for all the amazing benefits! I love you @pushlovedoula ! We couldn’t have done this without you!”
