The Promise a Young, Broke D.L. Hughley Made to His Baby Girl

Long before he was making people around the world laugh and hosting his own radio show, comedian D.L. Hughley was a young husband and father struggling to make ends meet. D.L. says that after marrying his wife, LaDonna, in 1986, they moved into a tiny apartment, and he got a job as a telephone sales rep, making about $3.35 an hour.

Money was tight, and it got even tighter when LaDonna got pregnant with their first child, daughter Ryan. "I work really hard, and I became assistant manager over the telephone sales operation room, and she gets pregnant again," D.L. says. "I remember once LaDonna had to go to the hospital because this pregnancy was really hard, and me and Ryan came home, and our lights were off, and there was no food."

That night, D.L. says, he made his daughter mashed bananas by candlelight. He also made her a promise. "She was just laughing and playing, and she had no concept of what was going on," he says. "I said, 'I'll never put you in this situation again.'"

Watch the above video to find out more about D.L.'s life before he became a "king of comedy" and his rise to stardom.

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