Singer, songwriter and choreographer DaniLeigh says motherhood, grief and a Miami church community helped pull her through a dark and painful season.
“I feel I met God truly during that time as well,” she told “Gracias, Come Again” podcast host Honey German while explaining how slowing down to raise her daughter changed her.
In the Aug. 20 episode, DaniLeigh traced her faith journey through postpartum struggles, depression, family pain and a long pause from the headlong pace of her music career.
Her daughter turned the artist into a self-described homebody. DaniLeigh said she learned to cook, stepped back from a frantic schedule and found joy in ordinary days with her child.
“It was hard. It was very dark for me,” she said. “It was very, like, heartbroken at moments and just depressed, honestly.”
Church became a place where she could breathe again. DaniLeigh said she connected with God at VOUS Church in Miami, where she joined an all-women’s VOUS Crew, served others and found a community that let her step away from the pressure of being an artist.
German became visibly moved when the two women realized they had found Jesus at the same church during separate low points. The shared connection turned the interview into a candid conversation about worship, community and finding enough strength to keep moving.
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“It felt good to just step out of that and just be there,” she said. “I just felt human, you know, and just, like, felt like I was just growing. I was, like, growing a lot and healing a lot of things.”
The conversation grew heavier when DaniLeigh discussed her father’s battle with cancer. She moved in with her parents and cared for him alongside her mother, siblings and daughter, a crowded and painful season that also drew the family close.
She described feeding and washing her father as his health declined and said the experience changed her understanding of love, suffering and God.
“That’s truly where I found God,” she said.
The grief still sits close. DaniLeigh said her daughter remembers her grandfather as Papa, and the singer keeps his memory alive through photos, stories and their shared love of TOY STORY.
DaniLeigh also addressed how she wants people to view the public mistakes in her past. She did not ask listeners to forget them or wave them away.
“I have full responsibility for it, and that’s all we can do, you know, take accountability,” she said.
She hopes her story can encourage anyone who believes they cannot be forgiven to see that growth is still possible. Her framing keeps forgiveness and responsibility together: Tell the truth about the past, own it and choose a new direction.
DaniLeigh’s career began with a break most teenagers could hardly imagine. At 18, she directed and starred in Prince’s “Breakfast Can Wait” music video, receiving broad creative control from the superstar, according to the Los Angeles Times’ 2013 report.
Her 2019 “Easy” remix paired her with Chris Brown. Now she is returning with music tied more closely to family, including “La Familia” with Bella Dose and Brandon Bill$, who joined her near the end of the interview.
For DaniLeigh, the comeback is not a claim that she has everything figured out.
“I’m still human, so I know I’m still gonna have my moments, you know, where I don’t do my best,” she said. “But that’s what I’m trying for.”
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