--- title: John Legend On His Kids on The Late Show Video description: John Legend reveals why he and Chrissie Teigen are still learning the ropes as parents canonical: https://time.com/4755912/john-legend-on-luna-on-colbert/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T17:01:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:08.291Z og:title: John Legend On Why His Kids Haven't Earned His Love Yet og:description: Legend reveals why he and Chrissie Teigen are still learning to be parents og:url: https://time.com/4755912/john-legend-on-luna-on-colbert/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d25bf537c8b1d0c/6988caaebc6cfcfaec3e1113/john-legend1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: John Legend attends the 2017 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Legend On Why His Kids Haven't Earned His Love Yet twitter:description: Legend reveals why he and Chrissie Teigen are still learning to be parents twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d25bf537c8b1d0c/6988caaebc6cfcfaec3e1113/john-legend1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch John Legend Tell Stephen Colbert Why His Kids Haven't Earned His Love Yet > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=068d4283-8f11-4519-bfc6-cfb9d4191b59&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 26, 2017 5:01 PM UTC  John Legend attends the 2017 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. John Legend attends the 2017 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. Patrick McMullan—Patrick McMullan via Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 26, 2017 5:01 PM UTC After performing at the TIME 100 gala Tuesday night, [John Legend](http://time.com/4754168/john-legend-perform-time-100-gala/?iid=sr-link2) stopped by _The Late Show_ and made a hilarious confession—his kid hasn’t quite earned his love yet. Don’t get him wrong, the musician, who is “a legend in his own name” according to Stephen Colbert, loves his [daughter, Luna](http://motto.time.com/4539143/chrissy-teigen-luna-parenting-mommy-shaming/?iid=sr-link3). It’s just that she hasn’t done anything to _earn_ his love yet. [Legend](http://time.com/3965245/john-legend-mass-incarceration/?iid=sr-link4) knows a thing or two about love as he sings about it all the time and has whole albums full of love songs, many of which are dedicated to his wife[ Chrissy Teigen](http://time.com/4684411/oscars-2017-chrissy-teigen-sleeping-john-legend/?iid=sr-link2). However Legend says there’s a difference between how he loves his wife and how he feels about his daughter. “It’s a different kind of love. It’s very pure, it’s unconditional,” he explained, “But they haven’t earned it yet.” Colbert asked for clarification and Legend happily obliged: “They didn’t do anything. They just exist,” he said. “You love them completely, but it’s not like built on anything other than their existence.” Colbert and Legend also discussed Legend’s 2017 TIME 100 cover, and the story activist [Harry Belafonte wrote about Legend.](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736217/john-legend/?iid=sr-link1) “He always tells me something that Paul Robeson told him which is that it’s an artist’s duty to be gatekeepers of the truth,” Legend said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4755912/john-legend-on-luna-on-colbert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4755912/john-legend-on-luna-on-colbert/"},"headline":"Watch John Legend Tell Stephen Colbert Why His Kids Haven't Earned His Love Yet","datePublished":"2017-04-26T17:01:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:08.291Z","description":"Legend reveals why he and Chrissie Teigen are still waiting for their daughter to earn their love","url":"https://time.com/4755912/john-legend-on-luna-on-colbert/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","the late show","Late Night Television","john legend","Late Night Comedy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d25bf537c8b1d0c/6988caaebc6cfcfaec3e1113/john-legend1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d25bf537c8b1d0c/6988caaebc6cfcfaec3e1113/john-legend1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Legend attends the 2017 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City.","caption":"John Legend attends the 2017 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City.","creditText":"Patrick McMullan—Patrick McMullan via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4755912/john-legend-on-luna-on-colbert/","name":"Watch John Legend Tell Stephen Colbert Why His Kids Haven't Earned His Love Yet"}}]}] ```