Before he was a household name, This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown actually went by his middle name, Kelby. And now, he’s opening up about why he made that switch—and the touching reason he eventually chose to return to his given name.
In a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the Emmy-winning actor revealed that he ditched his first name as a kid simply because it felt too grown-up.
"My dad's name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather is Sterling Brown Sr.,” he explained. “I wanted my own name, and it felt like Sterling was an old man's name."
So, for most of his childhood, he was known as Kelby. But after his father passed away from a heart attack when Sterling was just 10, things changed. By the time he turned 16, he found himself missing the sound of his dad’s name.
"I hadn't heard his name for five, five-and-a-half years,” he said. “And I thought, ‘I kind of just want to hear that name again.’ So I asked people to start calling me Sterling.”
It was a small but powerful way to keep his father's memory alive.
Sterling, who now has two sons of his own—Andrew and Amaré—with wife Ryan Michelle Bathé, has often spoken about how deeply his dad’s passing shaped him. In a 2019 interview with Sunday Today, he shared vivid memories of the day his father died, including the last moment they shared.
“He looks at me over the railing and he winks,” Sterling recalled. “They carry him out the door—last time I saw him.”
Even though their time together was short, Sterling said his father left an incredible impact.
“I will say this about Sterling Brown, Jr.: He filled me up with so much love,” he said. “It was everything I could’ve hoped for for 10 years.”
Source: E! News
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