Mama Cass’s daughter has opened up about meeting her father for the first time as a teen after Michelle Phillips helped her find him – and admitted she was disappointed in her ‘alcoholic’ dad 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 a point of not sharing the identity of her father with anyone – including Owen.
It wasn’t until she was a teenager – years after Cass tragically passed away from a heart attack – that Owen learned that her father was musician Charles Wayne Day, all thanks to her mom’s former bandmate Michelle.
Now, she has opened up about how she and Michelle teamed up to find Charles exclusively to DailyMail.com.
Mama Cass’s daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell (seen in 2022) has opened up about meeting her father for the first time as a teen 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 a point of not sharing the identity of her father with anyone
It wasn’t until she was a teen that Owen learned that her father was musician Charles Wayne Day, all thanks to her mom’s former bandmate Michelle. Owen is seen as a baby with her mom
She also spoke about what it was like to get to know him after more than a decade of ‘wondering constantly’ 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 got a call from former The Mamas & The Papas member Denny Doherty, who invited her to come to dinner with him and her mom’s other ex-bandmates, Michelle and John Phillips – and the topic came up on the drive back home.
‘On the way home, Michelle told me that she and John and Denny had driven together to the restaurant and that she had made an off-handed comment like, “Gosh we never found out who Owen’s father was,” and John and Denny shot each other a look. A look that said, “Oh you don’t know?”‘ Owen dished.
‘They actually knew his name. Now we had a name. I asked Michelle, “Would you help me find him?” And she said she would.’
Owen explained that Charles had played bass for The Mamas & The Papas briefly in 1966, months before she was born.
She theorized that her mom kept his identity a secret from her because she ‘didn’t want him and didn’t need him.’
‘She had decided she really wanted a baby but she didn’t want a husband. She didn’t feel that she needed one. She was a very forward-thinking feminist woman,’ Owen said.
She also admitted that she ‘wondered’ about him ‘constantly’ when she was growing up, adding, ‘One of my fantasies was that he was going to show up one day on a white stallion. I had this whole thing in my head.’
Now, she has opened up about how she and Michelle teamed up to find Charles exclusively to DailyMail.com. Cass is seen with Michelle and their other bandmates in 1959
As for why her mom (seen in 1966) kept his identity secret, Owen said, ‘She had decided she really wanted a baby but she didn’t want a husband. She didn’t feel that she needed one’
She admitted that she ‘wondered’ about him ‘constantly,’ adding, ‘One of my fantasies was that he was going to show up one day on a white stallion.’ Owen is seen with her mom as a baby
It took about a year for Michelle and Owen to track her dad down, and once they did, Michelle bought Owen a plane ticket so she could fly and meet him. But their first interaction wasn’t exactly what she expected it to be.
‘It was weird,’ she admitted. ‘When I looked at him, I recognized my nose. It was almost like my DNA went off and I just knew, “I came from him.”
‘It’s really bizarre but you just know. I felt this connection but I didn’t really want that, I felt really overwhelmed by it.’
She also learned that her dad had known about her for years, and was disappointed that he hadn’t reached out to her.
‘It turns out, my mom had a moment of guilt when I was three or something, and she called him and told him he was my father,’ she revealed.
‘He came to see me but promised my mom he wouldn’t tell me he was my father. I also found out he had come to her funeral but stayed across the street and could not bring himself to come over.
‘I was so mad when I found that out because I spent so much time wondering about him. If he just had a little bit of balls….’
It took about a year for Michelle and Owen to track her dad down. Owen is seen with Michelle and her daughters in 2022
‘It was weird,’ Owen (seen with Chynna Phillips) admitted of their meeting. ‘It was almost like my DNA went off and I just knew, “I came from him.” I felt really overwhelmed by it’
Charles worked alongside Johnny Rivers for years before he joined The Mamas & the Papas – and was even credited with creating the opening guitar rift in his song Secret Agent Man.
Owen added that by the time they met he was ‘a pretty serious alcoholic,’ which was ‘a little bit of a turn off.’
Owen recently released a new memoir, entitled My Mama, Cass, and she told DailyMail.com that she made sure to get Michelle’s ‘seal of approval’ on the tome
In addition, she said that after she got in contact with him he began ‘talking to the media and telling them that he had a child with Mama Cass,’ which she ‘didn’t appreciate.’
‘I wasn’t ready for that,’ she stated.
Charles died in 2008, and Owen said she was ultimately able to have ‘closure with him’ before his passing.
‘I went to see him before he died and showed him pictures of my kids,’ she explained.
‘I made photocopies and let him keep them because I knew he was never gonna get to meet them. So at least he got to see them.’
Owen recently released a new memoir, entitled My Mama, Cass, and she told DailyMail.com that she made sure to get Michelle’s ‘seal of approval’ on the tome.
‘She’s an important part of my life and I adore her. She’s someone I lean on for advice,’ Owen shared.
‘Having her seal of approval on this book was probably one of the only things that mattered.
‘She said she wept [when she read it], and I was just like, “This is so cool.” What an amazing experience.’
