Mama Cass’ daughter spoke openly about meeting her father for the first time as a teenager after Michelle Phillips helped her find him and admitted she was disappointed in her “alcoholic” father for not reaching out to her sooner.
When The Mamas & The Papas singer Cass Elliot welcomed her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell, in 1967, she made sure not to share her father’s identity with anyone, including Owen.
It wasn’t until she was a teenager, years after Cass tragically died of a heart attack, that Owen learned her father was musician Charles Wayne Day, all thanks to her mother’s former bandmate, Michelle.
Now, she has opened up about how she and Michelle teamed up to find Charles exclusively on DailyMail.com.
Mama Cass’ daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell (seen in 2022) opened up about meeting her father for the first time as a teenager after Michelle Phillips helped her find him.
When The Mamas & The Papas singer Cass Elliot welcomed her daughter, Owen (seen together), in 1967, she made sure not to share her father’s identity with anyone.
It wasn’t until she was a teenager that Owen learned that her father was musician Charles Wayne Day, all thanks to her mother’s former bandmate, Michelle. Owen is seen as a baby with her mother.
She also talked about what it was like to meet him after more than a decade of “constantly wondering” and longing for him to “show up on a white stallion” and rescue her.
Owen, 57, explained that she had just celebrated her 19th birthday when she received a call from former The Mamas & The Papas member Denny Doherty, who invited her to dinner with him and her mother’s other former bandmates. Michelle and John Phillips. – and the topic came up on the way back home.
“On the way home, Michelle told me that she, John, and Denny had driven to the restaurant together and that she had made an offhand comment like, ‘God, we never found out who Owen’s father was,’ and John and Denny shot him. at each other a look. A look that said, “Oh, you don’t know?” Owen said.
‘They actually knew his name. Now we had a name. I asked Michelle, “Would you help me find it?” And she said she would do it.
Owen explained that Charles had played bass for The Mamas & The Papas briefly in 1966, months before she was born.
She theorized that her mother kept his identity a secret from her because she “didn’t want it or need it.”
‘I had decided I really wanted a baby, but I didn’t want a husband. She didn’t feel like she needed one. She was a forward-thinking feminist woman,” Owen stated.
She also admitted that she “wondered” about him “constantly” as a child, adding: “One of my fantasies was that one day he would show up riding a white stallion.” He had all this in my head.’
Now, she has opened up about how she and Michelle teamed up to find Charles exclusively on DailyMail.com. Cass is seen with Michelle and her other bandmates in 1959.
As to why his mother (seen in 1966) kept her identity a secret, Owen said: “She had decided she really wanted a baby but she didn’t want a husband.” She didn’t feel like she needed one.
She admitted that she “wondered” about him “constantly,” adding: “One of my fantasies was that one day he would show up riding a white stallion.” Owen is seen with his mother when he was a baby.
It took Michelle and Owen about a year to track down their father, and once they did, Michelle bought Owen a plane ticket so she could fly out and meet him. But her first interaction wasn’t exactly what she expected it to be.
“It was strange,” he admitted. ‘When I looked at it, I recognized my nose. It was almost like my DNA was triggered and I knew, “I came from him.”
‘It’s really strange, but you know. I felt this connection, but I didn’t really want it, I felt really overwhelmed by it.’
She also learned that her father had known about her for years and was disappointed that he hadn’t reached out to her.
“It turns out that my mom had a moment of guilt when I was three or something, and she called him and told him that he was my father,” he revealed.
“He came to see me but he promised my mother that he wouldn’t tell me that he was my father. I also discovered that he had gone to his funeral but he stayed across the street and didn’t dare come.
‘I was very angry when I found out because I spent a lot of time wondering about him. If he had a little guts…’
It took Michelle and Owen about a year to locate their father. Owen is seen with Michelle and her daughters in 2022
“It was weird,” Owen (seen with Chynna Phillips) admitted of their encounter. ‘It was almost like my DNA was triggered and I knew, ‘I came from him.’ I was really overwhelmed by that.’
Charles worked alongside Johnny Rivers for years before joining The Mamas & the Papas, and was even credited with creating the opening guitar on their song Secret Agent Man.
Owen added that when they met he was “a pretty serious alcoholic,” which was “a bit off-putting.”
Owen recently published a new memoir, titled My Mama, Cass, and told DailyMail.com that he made sure to get Michelle’s “seal of approval” on the tome.
Additionally, she said that after contacting him, he started ‘talking to the media and telling them he had a child with Mama Cass,’ which she ‘didn’t like.’
“I wasn’t prepared for that,” she said.
Charles died in 2008 and Owen said she was finally able to have “closure with him” before his passing.
“I went to see him before he died and showed him pictures of my children,” she explained.
‘I made photocopies and let him keep them because I knew he would never meet them. That way at least she could see them.
Owen recently published a new memoir, titled My Mama, Cass, and told DailyMail.com that he made sure to get Michelle’s “seal of approval” on the tome.
‘She is an important part of my life and I adore her. She is someone I turn to for advice,” Owen shared.
‘Having his seal of approval on this book was probably one of the only things that mattered.
“He said he cried (when he read it) and I was like, ‘This is great.'” What an incredible experience!