Rickey Smiley’s twin daughters, Allyson and Allyssa, have helped him find joy again after loss.
Allyson and Allyssa were born in 2019, although Smiley didn’t learn about them until they were 5 years old. Since then, Smiley — who was first introduced to them in 2024 — has called them his “life savers,” per a January YouTube video.
The comedian is a father to four other children: Brandon, D’Essence, Malik and Aaryn. His oldest child, Brandon, died of an accidental overdose in January 2023 at age 34.
Coping with the loss of his son was “unbearable” at times, he told PEOPLE. But the twins’ presence has helped Smiley move through his grief.
“As I stood in the doorway and watched my two little girls play in the room of my home that hadn’t seen much playtime in years since my other children are grown, I noticed that the heaviness was gone,” he wrote in his book, Sideshow. “Their innocence had moved me to tears and a weight was finally lifted.”
Here’s everything to know about Rickey Smiley’s twin daughters and how they’ve impacted his life.
They were born in 2019
Smiley’s daughters, Allyson and Allyssa, were born on Feb. 1, 2019.
In February 2025, Smiley put together a massive birthday celebration for the girls. The carnival-themed party featured jugglers, stilt-walkers, face-painting, roller-skating and bumper cars. He shared a sweet video of the epic event on Instagram, showcasing Allyson and Allyssa enjoying their special day.
“My daughters’ 6th birthday party was absolutely awesome!!!!!” he wrote before thanking over 20 different vendors who helped put it all together.
Smiley learned that he was their father in 2024
Smiley was unaware that he had fathered Allyson and Allyssa until they were nearly 5 years old. In fact, he got the surprising news right around the one-year anniversary of his son Brandon’s death.
Smiley, who was living alone in Florida at the time, got a call from his ex-girlfriend with the news, he recalled on the Smitty & Dee Podcast. Through court filings, she discovered that her ex-boyfriend — the man she believed to be the twins’ father — was not their dad at all; in fact, Smiley was the girls’ father.
“So many feelings filled my body,” he recalled in Sideshow. “Shock. Happiness. Excitement. And complete and utter joy.”
He continued, “And the kicker? I found out about them within days of the first anniversary of Brandon’s passing. How could I have known that day when I could barely walk down the hallway after getting the call about Brandon that I would, almost exactly a year later, walk into a house filled with giggles and love and a double dose of Black girl magic?”
Smiley has known them their entire lives
While Smiley only learned that he was their father in 2024, he’s actually known them for their entire lives.
“Their mother was a woman I’m good friends with,” the comedian wrote in his book, Sideshow, adding that they had an “off-again, on-again relationship.” Even after breaking up, the two remained friendly.
Because of that, Smiley had known Allyson and Allyssa since they were born — they had even had playdates with his grandson, Grayson, before. While he and his ex sometimes “joked” about the possibility before, he never wondered whether they were actually his biological children.
“I don’t run away from being a father, and she’s not the type of mom who would keep a child from a dad,” he said on the Smitty & Dee Podcast.
They take after him
Now that he’s aware that he’s their biological father, Smiley has started to notice some resemblances. “One of them looks like me when I was 5, and the other has my personality,” he said on the Smitty & Dee Podcast.
However, Smiley “still can’t tell them apart,” he said in his book, Sideshow. “I have to ask them their names,” he added.
After finding out about his twins, Smiley waited a month to tell his other children.
“I spent time with them where I could develop a relationship and where they could be focused on me and I could be focused on them,” he said on the Smitty & Dee Podcast.
He ultimately shared the news with his older kids during what they thought was a memorial dinner for Brandon. “They lost it,” he said, adding that they were overjoyed by the discovery as well.
The radio host went on to say that now they are “one big happy family.”
Smiley has credited his twins with helping him find joy again
Becoming a father again was a true “blessing” for the comedian. Amid the loss of Brandon, Allyson and Allyssa gave Smiley a new sense of purpose.
“Watching them play and laugh brought on a bittersweet feeling. There was the ever-present pain of loss. The memories of when Brandon was their age,” he wrote in Sideshow. “But then there was the presence of new, boundless love.”
During their first night sleeping over at his house, Smiley slept in their room, even waking up at 4 a.m. to watch their favorite show, Peppa Pig, with them.
“I even bunked in their room, determined not to let them wake up in the dark feeling alone in a house they weren’t as familiar with. I went from trundle bed to trundle bed, helping them sleep,” he wrote. “Every time one would wake up, I’d go over to that other one’s bed and pull the bottom out.”
Since then, Smiley has helped teach the twins manners and celebrate their birthdays, he added. He even styles their hair from time, as shown in a January Instagram video.
That same month, Smiley posted an adorable clip from Christmas Eve where he teased them about Santa Claus. In 2024, he captured the moment when they took their first flight while on their way to Disney World.
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