Photo: Youtube
Gohmert's middle child is sorry her dad has coivd and supports mask wearing.
By Rebekah Kuschmider — Written on Aug 04, 2020
Representative Louie Gohmert tested positive for Covid-19 last week and immediately set off a firestorm of controversy when his staff revealed that he has been against them wearing masks at work. Gohmert added fuel to the fire by saying he was going to take a Trump-approved medication called hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus, despite mounting evidence that the drug isn't useful.
Any Covid-19 diagnosis brings anxiety to a family, and Gohmert's is no different. His daughter, musician Caroline Brooks, AKA Bellsaint, is worried about her father's health. She's also worried that his very public and very cavalier attitude about mask-wearing is going to make people resist wearing masks despite the science that says mask reduces transmission. Brooks posted on social media this week urging her followers to listen to science, not politicians, including her dear old Dad, when it comes to their health.
Who is Louie Gohmert's daughter, Caroline Brooks?
Caroline Brooks is a Texan.
Brooks is from Texas and grew up in the district her Republican father continues to represent. She loved music from an early age, something she shares with her Louie Gohmert. He plays guitar and used to write songs to play for Brooks and her two sisters. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue music and has been working in the industry for close to a decade now.
While she doesn't share her father's political beliefs, she still cares deeply about him. Her message about his diagnosis was heartfelt. "Wearing a mask is a non-partisan issue," Brooks wrote. "The advice of medical experts shouldn't be politicized. My father ignored medical expertise and now he has COVID. This has been a heartbreaking battle bc I love my dad and don't want him to die. Please, please listen to medical experts. It's not worth following a president who has no remorse for leading his followers to an early grave."
She wants her followers to listen to their doctors, not her dad.
What does Bellsaint mean? It's Caroline Brooks' stage name.
Brooks says she wanted a stage name that reflected her musical style. She originally performed as BeLL, after her childhood love of Beauty and the Beast but she evolved beyond that. She says that what she wanted was a single word moniker that was unique in the business and that gave people a sense of who she is. "I wanted to make up a name/word that nobody else had. ‘Bell’ felt vulnerable and feminine, and ‘saint’ felt strong and empowering," she explains. "My artistry has both sides: light and shade; I thought that name suited my overall vision."
Caroline Brooks is a really successful songwriter.
After being signed by a management company after a performance at Sundance in 2014, Brooks has had a lot of success as a songwriter. She's gotten to team up with major names like Natalie Imbruglia, Cloves, and Danny O’Donoghue of The Script. Her songs pop up on TV pretty often, including in ads for Adidas and Marc Jacobs and the video game Just Dance. She's also had songs on shows like Riverdale, Pretty Little Liars, The Handmaid's Tale, Little Fires Everywhere, and Rise.
Brooks writes and performs her own music as well and says her biggest influences include Johnny Cash, Elvis, Dolly Parton, and Nancy Sinatra. She also volunteers with Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls and teaches songwriting to at-risk youth girls at Awaken Arts.
Brooks with John Legend in 2019.
How does she deal with her dad's public persona?
Having a father who is a polarizing political figure could be a career hazard for anyone. For someone trying to navigate the Hollywood music industry, it could be a major obstacle to getting in the door. Brooks has chosen to j keep mum about who her dad is unless someone asks her about him directly. She hasn't used the last name Gohmert professionally and has endeavoured to succeed on her own merits. Her agent says that her strategy has been to just say nothing about who her dad is unless it comes up specifically.
Gohmert on the Floor of the House.
Brooks wrote a song about her father, Louie Gohmert.
In 2019, she wrestled with whatever demons she has about her father in a more public way that she has before. She released a song called "Much Like My Father" on her EP Technicolor. The song includes lyrics like "You get away with everything / Much like my father." and "But the truth is I push everyone away / Much like my father." The acoustic ballad is a highly personal piece of music and reflects the conflicts she feels about her relationship with her father.
Her politics are very different than her dad's.
If you check our Brooks' social media feeds, you'll find plenty of posts in support of Black Lives matter, the #MeToo movement, and using science to deal with the pandemic. This stands in contrast to her father who has been introducing bills to ban the Democratic Party based on their position on slavery in the 1800s and says that his mask is why he caught coronavirus.
Louie Gohmert hasn't said anything about his daughter's statement so far.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.