Who Is Kyla Pratt’s Boyfriend? All About Danny Kirkpatrick

Kyla Pratt and her boyfriend, Danny Kirkpatrick, are in it for the lengthy haul.

The Proud Household actress and her longtime accomplice first met round 2008 after being launched by Kirkpatrick’s cousin. They’ve been collectively since, and they now share two daughters, Lyric, born in 2010, and Liyah, born in 2013.

Pratt and Kirkpatrick additionally appeared collectively on Black Ink Crew: Los Angeles which featured his journey to founding a tattoo store in his hometown, Compton, Calif.

Regardless of being collectively for over a decade, the couple have made it clear they’re in no rush to tie the knot. Pratt addressed their choice to attend throughout a 2014 interview with DJVlad TV, saying, “So long as we’re mates, so long as we talk, so long as we’re doing an important job elevating our children collectively, nothing else issues.”

Ten years later, in an interview with E! Information, Pratt reiterated their stance, playfully dismissing exterior pressures. “You’re two gangsters who’re residing their life and loving one another. We’re good. Don’t fear about what we’re doing,” she stated.

So, who’s Kyla Pratt’s boyfriend? Right here’s the whole lot to learn about Danny Kirkpatrick and his relationship with the actress.

He studied artwork

Kirkpatrick had an early aptitude for the humanities. When he was in first grade, his trainer known as residence as a result of she seen his drawings, in line with a 2019 interview with LA Weekly, however Kirkpatrick doesn’t recall his early ability. “I didn’t notice till I used to be older I had an actual expertise,” he stated.

Kirkpatrick continued drawing and found a ardour for music, too, however he devoted most of his time to soccer whereas at Dominguez Excessive College in Compton, Calif. In accordance with LA Weekly, he majored in artwork at Lincoln Faculty earlier than shedding his scholarship in 2005 as a result of a non-violent drug offense.

He recalled being given 30 days to indicate proof of employment or earnings, and his buddy prompted him to attempt promoting his artwork. Kirkpatrick was stunned to search out that there was a marketplace for his drawings.

“After I was a child, I didn’t have a look at drawing as a present or one thing I may make a residing at, but it surely was my very own god-given expertise,” he instructed LA Weekly.

He’s a tattoo artist

When he bought again into drawing, Kirkpatrick realized he may flip his expertise right into a profession as a tattoo artist. His earliest follow classes concerned tattooing his personal legs and as soon as he felt extra assured, he satisfied a buddy to let him begin tattooing them as a substitute.

Together with his buddy serving as a “strolling canvas,” Kirkpatrick took to the streets of Compton, showcasing his work and utilizing the tattoos he’d created to draw new shoppers.

As phrase unfold about his expertise, Kirkpatrick grew a popularity, significantly inside Compton’s music neighborhood. This publicity finally opened doorways to the hip-hop scene, the place he started working with high-profile shoppers, together with rapper and producer Nas, a milestone he mirrored on throughout a 2019 interview with This Is 50.

They had been launched by considered one of Kirkpatrick’s cousins

Pratt and Kirkpatrick met round 2008 in Gardena, Calif., the place Kirkpatrick was residing with two cousins and serving probation for his 2005 non-violent drug offense. Considered one of his cousins was mates with Pratt and invited her over to the home, the place she met Kirkpatrick.

They rapidly began joking collectively and finally started relationship. The tattoo artist instructed VH1 that he wasn’t conscious of Pratt’s work as an actress after they first met.

“When individuals got here as much as me after we began relationship and stated, ‘you’re relationship Penny Proud,’ I used to be clueless to what they had been speaking about,” he stated. “I checked out her as a child, not figuring out her full influence and resume.”

One other member of the family has additionally accepted of their relationship. On his present, Black Ink Crew: Los Angeles, Kirkpatrick mirrored on his mom’s relationship with Pratt.

“The second I knew Kyla was for me was when my mother accepted it,” he shared on the present. Kirkpatrick fondly recalled his mom’s phrases: “She’s an excellent one. Don’t mess it up.”

They’re in no rush to get married

Pratt opened up about her views on marriage in an interview with DJVlad TV in 2014.

“We’re gonna get married after we really feel prefer it,” Pratt stated. She defined that marriage carries a whole lot of expectations, they usually most well-liked to give attention to their relationship first. “There’s a whole lot of strain that comes with that piece of paper. Why not work in your relationship earlier than leaping into that strain?” she added.

Pratt additionally talked about Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn as an instance of a profitable, long-term relationship with out marriage. “Even when we wanna do some Kurt Russell-Goldie Hawn-type factor … They’ve by no means been married, nonetheless collectively, bought all these youngsters, and nonetheless sturdy,” she stated.

In an August 2022 interview on Buzy Baker’s Ended Up At Bakers podcast, Kirkpatrick mentioned how their alternative to not marry had turn out to be a type of defiance. “You ain’t gonna inform me when, and he or she’s bought that angle too,” he stated. “Y’all ain’t gonna inform me when. I’m not no child, I’m grown.” He additionally spoke about how rising up within the public eye has led some to nonetheless view Pratt as a baby.

In an August 2024 interview with E! Information, Pratt and Kirkpatrick addressed rumors of their engagement, clarifying that they hadn’t taken that step but. “We confirmed up on the BET Awards, and other people had been like, ‘Congratulations in your engagement,’ ” Pratt stated. “We had been like, ‘What are you speaking about?’ We simply stated thanks.”

They dad or mum three kids

Kirkpatrick and Pratt’s daughter Lyric was born in November 2010, and their youthful daughter Liyah adopted in August 2013.

Pratt has usually highlighted Kirkpatrick’s position as a loving father. In 2022, she shared a touching Instagram publish that includes him with their daughters, writing, “This MAN. There isn’t a day that goes by that my youngsters don’t really feel love from their father. Thanks for being the person you might be in each method. You’re appreciated.”

Kirkpatrick has additionally spoken concerning the sturdy bond he shares with Pratt and their youngsters. In a 2015 interview with This Is 50, he mirrored on their relationship, saying, “I’ll at all times love her, we’ll at all times be in love. She gave me two lovely daughters.”

Along with their daughters, Kirkpatrick has a son from a earlier relationship. Pratt has embraced her position as a stepmother, referring to him as her “bonus child” throughout a 2023 look on The Jennifer Hudson Present.

Pratt and Kirkpatrick’s daughters additionally appear to be following of their mother and father’ inventive footsteps. Throughout a January 2023 interview with PIX11 Information, Pratt shared that each Lyric and Liyah are exhibiting an curiosity in appearing. “They’re characters,” she stated. “Their mother and father are each artists in each single method, so there isn’t any method round it.”

Pratt described her and Kirkpatrick’s parenting fashion as a mixture of “gangsta and delicate,” to E! Information in 2024, She additionally praised her boyfriend’s potential to stability the 2, saying, “It must be the proper mixture, which he has tailored very properly, and it’s the sexiest factor on the planet.”

She supported him in opening his personal tattoo store

Kirkpatrick rose to prominence as a tattoo artist in Compton catching the eye of VH1, which tapped him to launch a West Coast franchise of the favored collection Black Ink Crew, in line with LA Weekly. The spinoff, Black Ink Crew: Los Angeles, premiered in August 2019, with Kirkpatrick main the solid.

On journalist Jemele Hill‘s podcast, Jemele Hill Is Unbothered, Pratt expressed her assist for his choice to affix the franchise. “Him being a tattoo artist, and him being a musician, I believed it was a good way to indicate his artwork,” she stated. “He’s dealing with it properly, and I’m going to proceed to assist no matter it’s he needs to do.”

By the finale of Black Ink Crew: Los Angeles’ first season, Kirkpatrick secured a venue for what he proudly known as “Compton’s first tattoo store.” Reflecting on the milestone, he credited Pratt for her unwavering encouragement. “I really like that Kyla is right here proper now. Her assist by way of this journey is the whole lot. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know that I’d’ve been capable of handle the store,” he stated on the present.

Each Pratt and Kirkpatrick have been captivated with making the store a cornerstone of the neighborhood. Throughout season 1, Pratt shared her hopes for his or her enterprise: “I do need our children to see their dad doing one thing optimistic. It’s good for them to see that it doesn’t matter what the battle is, no person’s going to cease us from doing one thing good for the neighborhood.”

With the store gaining traction, Kirkpatrick stated he was excited to stability work and household calls for. “Now that we’ve bought some good momentum going, I’m wanting ahead to spending extra time together with her and the women. They’re my world, and he or she’s my queen,” he stated.

He’s additionally a musician

Kirkpatrick launched his debut album, New Comp Metropolis, in 2015 beneath the stage title iAmCompton. In a 2019 interview with Cannon, he defined that his moniker stands for “ink artwork music Compton,” a tribute to his inventive passions — tattooing, artwork and music — and his hometown.

Kirkpatrick additionally shared how music has at all times been an emotional outlet for him. “I’ve been doing music since 2005,” he stated. “I’ve at all times been a author. As soon as I tapped into that, I used to be heavy into writing songs—it was like my remedy.”

Nevertheless, his path to music wasn’t easy. Kirkpatrick revealed that his preliminary efforts to pursue a music profession had been delayed by his parole. “My PO [parole officer] was like, ‘Nah, not till you present proof of earnings, you may’t do music, rap, or nothing,’ ” he defined. “After that, I needed to decide up a tattoo gun.” This detour into tattooing turned the inspiration of Kirkpatrick’s profession, but it surely didn’t diminish his ardour for music.

Over time, he has balanced each worlds. In 2016, Kirkpatrick launched the observe “I Do What I Need,” a collaboration with the late Atlanta rapper Wealthy Homie Quan. Most lately, in 2024, he dropped his single “Elevate Off.”