Singer Mario Opens Up About Reconciling With His Father After Mother’s Death
- The closing of a casket in June 2017 became the catalyst for a lifelong reconciliation.
- The Baltimore-born artist recently opened up about the psychological void left by his father's absence.
- It was hard for me because you don’t know what you’re missing if you never had it, he said.
The closing of a casket in June 2017 became the catalyst for a lifelong reconciliation. For singer Mario, the funeral of his mother, Shawntia Hardaway, stripped away years of estrangement between him and his father, a man largely absent throughout the artist’s upbringing.
A blueprint for forgiveness
The Baltimore-born artist recently opened up about the psychological void left by his father’s absence. For Mario, the struggle wasn’t just about the rift, but the lack of a reference point for how a father and son should interact.
It was hard for me because you don’t know what you’re missing if you never had it,
he said.
The spiritual shift at a final goodbye
Seven years ago, the emotional weight of his mother’s passing reached a breaking point. As Shawntia Hardaway was laid to rest, Mario describes a moment of profound vulnerability that changed his trajectory.
When the casket was being closed, his father stepped in. It was a specific form of comfort—a spiritual connection that signaled the time for healing had arrived.
He was the only person that could hug me and it felt like, ‘Yo, you’re not alone. You did everything you could,’
Mario
The realization was stark: he had only one parent remaining. That fact prompted Mario to actively rebuild the connection he had spent a lifetime lacking.
Translating addiction and loss into art
The road to this peace was paved with hardship. Mario has been transparent about his mother’s long battle with addiction, detailing the years he spent attempting to guide her through various rehabilitation programs before her death.
He turned that grief into a creative outlet. The 2018 album Dancing Shadows and the single Care for You
served as the primary vehicles for processing the complexities of his childhood.
The Mario Do Right Foundation
Mario’s response to family trauma extends beyond the recording studio. Since 2008, he has led the Mario Do Right Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing resources for families grappling with substance abuse.
The foundation operates on a core tenet: family members must not carry the burden of guilt for a loved one’s addiction.