Gladys Knight's Son Threatens to Expose Secret Illness If Name is Removed from Restaurant

Gladys Knight wants nothing to do with her son, Shanga Hankerson's, financially unstable restaurant. She has pursued legal action to have her name removed from Atlanta's Gladys Knight's Chicken And Waffles. Hankerson reportedly responded to his mother's legal attempts with threats to expose her alleged secret illness.

The Knight family business is getting messier by the day after the Atlanta based Gladys Knight's Chicken And Waffles restaurants landed on the investigations list of the Georgia State Department of Revenue back in June.

As reported by Page Six, Hankerson, Knight's youngest son, owns three chicken and waffles restaurants in the state of Georgia, all of which are named for the "Love Overboard" singer.

Though Hankerson is the legal owner and operator of the establishments, it's Knight's name that proceeds the "chicken and waffles" portion of the title and has since linked her to all of his shady business dealings.

According to the report, 39-year-old Hankerson reportedly "stole more than $650,000 in sales and withholding taxes" and was charged with tax evasion. Though he surrendered to police custody on the matter, mama Gladys has no plans to do the same.

72-year-old Knight filed the necessary court documents to have her name removed from her son's properties, according to EUR, and won by default after Hankerson failed to respond to the claims in time.

When Hankerson finally did respond he disclosed private health information on his mother that could possibly help plead his case to keep his mother's name on the restaurants.

The court documents revealed Knight's "lack of mental capacity" due to her unpublicized Alzheimer's disease should prohibit her from rescinding their original licensing agreement.

According to TMZ, Knight not only denied the statements about her health but claimed Hankerson only released the false information to "embarrass and harass" her.