A full year after a contentious Family Court hearing, Jamaican sprinting icon Asafa Powell is today (July 25) breaking his silence on the matter, arguing that contrary to media reports and rabid social media speculations, he is not a ‘deadbeat dad’.

The athlete-turned-YouTuber, in a 15-minute video published on his family channel on Sunday, argued that at no point were his interactions with media personality Amita Persaud-Webb a “relationship”. Powell accepted he did things in the past and was far from blameless.

However, on allegedly hearing of Persaud-Webb’s pregnancy via a radio announcement in 2012, the now-married father of three, with a fourth on the way, said he “stepped up” and ensured she was cared for during her term while he was in Europe.

That aside, he loves his children dearly and declared they were not ‘suffering’.

“I’m not the type of person to come on social media and put my business out there…but this thing been lingering in the media for too long. My silence not helping; I figure I would just stay quiet and it would go away but at the end of the day, even if it [goes] away, people will still have it in the back of their heads to say ‘Yow, Asafa is this person’ and ‘Asafa don’t take care of his kids and all that stuff’,” he began.

According to Powell, the person(s) who could clear up the misunderstanding refuse to do so because the social media controversy would then die down.

“They’re not going to come forward and clear [up] this situation and clear my name, because Asafa eva gwaan like him too perfect,” Powell contended.

“The media have it to say that my daughter’s mother is my ex[-girlfriend]; please, stop saying that. She’s not my ex, she’s the mother of my child. We weren’t a couple, we weren’t together, we weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. So please stop labelling the situation as ‘ex’,” he added.

“I’ve done things in the past, you know, I was never innocent. I’ve got two beautiful children from my past and I love them to death. I take care of them fully; none a dem nah suffer. My kids are quite fine,” he said.

Powell himself blasted allegations that he wasn’t taking care of his daughter when Persaud-Webb made headlines back in July 2020 by filing for child support in the Kingston and St Andrew Family Court—eight years after she was born.

Not referring to her by name, the 38-year-old former world record holder said he called Persaud-Webb to confirm she was with child, some four months after conception.

Excited at the prospect of his first child, Powell stressed no expense was spared as he catered to all Persuad-Webb’s needs.

The bombshell came when Powell alleged that the mother of his child started becoming abusive, and at the behest of his mother, he was initially against getting the courts involved.

“During this time there was just a lot of verbal abuse, like, random messages to my phone, calling me all sort of names. I ignore it. For years now court was supposed to come in play but my mom keep telling me ‘Don’t go to court. It doesn’t look good’,” Powell explained.

“I continue to support my daughter and my daughter’s mom during this time, like I said we were never together; I was just doing this out of love for my daughter and the appreciation I had for her (Persaud-Webb) for having my daughter,” he added.

Powell said “everything changed” in 2017, when the alleged verbal abuse took on a more threatening nature.

“[She] threatened for me not to see my daughter again; that I ‘act like father but I’m not a father’. She threatened to change my daughter last name and telling me I’ve never done anything for my child. So I’m like what?” he told his almost 53,000 YouTube subscribers on Sunday.

At that point, Powell, who later married Alyshia Miller, said he began cutting back on “everything”, which ultimately led to the unflattering filing in the Family Court.

“It kinda cut me deep when people around me questioning the situation. I mean, yeah, it don’t look good but you know everything and you shouldn’t question me,” he said.

Persuad-Webb, through her attorney, was seeking $25,000 in child support from Powell, which the sprinter said he was paying dutifully.

An “incident” at his parents’ home, which saw his daughter living there for two months, led Powell to renege on that commitment, he disclosed.

Persaud-Webb’s sum was later revised and increased to $40,000, by which time an incensed Powell threw a spoke in the wheel, by disputing paternity.

In the end, and no longer bound by the gag order placed on both parties by the court, Powell said if persons want to continue to believe he is a “deadbeat dad” they should feel free to do so, however, he and his family know the truth.

“People dislike you for many reasons: maybe it’s the way you talk. Maybe it’s your success, how you look—maybe yuh nose too big. For me, I don’t know what it is but people assume seh mi perfect,” he ended.

A ruling was reportedly made in the case of Powell vs Persaud-Webb last November, however, it didn’t come to the public fore until May this year.

According to Loop News, Powell was ordered: “to pay the sum of $30,000 per month, plus half of the medical expenses and half the educational expenses accumulated by his daughter until she reaches the age of 18.”

Watch Powell’s full account below: