All About Bernie Mac’s Daughter Je’Niece McCullough

Je’Niece McCullough continues to pay tribute to her father, late comedy legend Bernie Mac.

Mac (born Bernard Jeffery McCullough) and wife Rhonda McCullough welcomed Je’Niece in 1978.

Before his death, Mac and Je’Niece were close, with the star even weaving aspects of Je’Niece’s life into his comedy — a practice that she had mixed feelings about, as she told Tiffany Haddish in the VICE docuseries Black Comedy in America.

However, today, Je’Niece has fully embraced it. On her blog Bernie’s Daughter, she wrote, “Years ago, I hated being referred to as Bernie’s daughter.  Now, I feel like it’s a badge of honor.”

Mac died 17 years ago on Aug. 9, 2008, due to complications from pneumonia. Je’Niece and Rhonda were both with him when he died.

From her family to her ongoing efforts to honor her father, here’s everything to know about Bernie Mac’s daughter, Je’Niece McCullough.

Je’Niece was born in 1978

Mac and Rhonda welcomed their daughter Je’Niece in 1978 in Chicago.

Over the years, Je’Niece has opened up about being raised by young parents. “I got to see my dad grow from a boy to a man. My parents got married when he was 20, I was born four months later,” she said in a September 2023 episode of Beyond The Hype with Alfred A. Edmond, Jr. “We grew up together.”

Je’Niece has remained close to her roots and stayed in Chicago. In her TikTok bio, Je’Niece says she is “Bernard Jeffery’s daughter. Chicago born and raised. Who ya wit!”

She’s a counselor

Je’Niece studied at Xavier University in Louisiana to become a counselor, receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in mental health counseling, according to her LinkedIn.

After graduating, she worked in social services, including as a case manager in New Orleans. She also contributed to the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism, the first alcoholism treatment center in Illinois, according to the center’s website.

In 2004, Je’Niece pivoted to work as her father’s assistant. Following his death, Je’Niece has been dedicated to public speaking, with the goal of helping people work through grief.

“We think of grieving as the absence of strength. We don’t like feeling the pain. We just want to get it over with. But that’s not how grief works,” she wrote in a November 2018 Instagram post. “It wasn’t until I surrendered to my grief that it no longer felt as if it was enveloping all of me. It then began to feel like I was just riding its waves, and they weren’t so choppy anymore.”

Je’Niece has a daughter

In July 2002, Je’Niece got engaged to Theartris Childress III, per the Maryland Daily Times.

Four years later, on Oct. 28, 2004, Je’Niece gave birth to her daughter Jasmine, whom she affectionately calls “the Fizzle.”

“I don’t think I can truly express how I feel,” she said in a 2024 post celebrating her daughter’s 18th birthday. “So I’m just going to keep my box of tissue close while we celebrate. OMG! #My Fizzle is 18!!”

Je’Niece and Childress married and have since divorced, as she shared in a May 2023 TikTok.

She’s spoken about his parenting style

On the fictional The Bernie Mac Show — which ran from 2001 to 2006 — Mac and his wife took in his sister’s three children and raised them as their own. When the show won a Peabody Award in 2001, the organization described Mac’s parenting style in the show as “old-fashioned” and “tough love punishment.”

According to Je’Niece, his parenting style in real-life was also firm. In a May 2024 Instagram post, she wrote, “​​My dad was one of those parents who spent a great deal of my childhood being hard and critical of me in my face, while praising me to others.”

When confronted about his parenting, Je’Niece remembered Mac saying, “I’m a hard man. I make no apologies.”

However, as Mac “matured, he changed,” Je’Niece added. “One of our last moments together, he hugged me and told me he was proud of me. I felt like I was 8 years old again.”

Mac included Je’Niece in his comedy

In one of Mac’s popular standups, he discussed his daughter’s wedding, voicing his displeasure at the cost.

“$20,000 to answer a question?” Mac joked in the routine, adding, for that sum, the two could never get divorced. “If you don’t want to talk to her, write her a letter.”

However, Je’Niece later explained in a May 2023 TikTok that her father’s comedy came from a protective place. “It really wasn’t about the money, it was about the fact that he hated my ex-husband. He never wanted me to marry him,” she claimed.

Je’Niece shared her mixed thoughts on being included in her father’s comedy in the VICE docuseries Black Comedy in America.

“When I was younger, I enjoyed it. It was like, ‘Oh, look, my daddy’s onstage, yay! Go daddy!’ ” she said. “And then as I got older and the jokes got more personal, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on. Um, sir?’ ”

Je’Niece even once performed with her father as a backup dancer when she was a teenager.

“To not only witness my dad create the career he did and the life he gifted us, but to also be able to participate with him has to be amongst my most cherished memories,” she wrote in a May 2024 Instagram post. “I was just 14 years old, performing on stage in front of thousands of people with my dad. That’s wild. Nah, in his own words, that’s nice…real nice!”

She’s spoken about her father’s illness

Je’Niece has used her platform to raise awareness for sarcoidosis, the condition that contributed to Mac’s ailing health before his death from pneumonia complications.

In 2007, Mac and his wife, Rhonda, started the Bernie Mac Foundation, which helps support those living with sarcoidosis. According to her LinkedIn, Je’Niece served as the vice president of the foundation from August 2008 to May 2011.

In a November 2022 TikTok, Je’Niece shared that her father’s sarcoidosis primarily affected his skin and lungs. “What you didn’t see is when they called cut, and he came out to the car, he had to put oxygen on to aid his breathing,” she said. “He was operating with the capacity of one lung.”

“We have to get out of the mindset that we can tell how healthy someone is, we can tell what’s going on internally with people just by looking at them,” she continued.

She started a podcast in his memory

Je’Niece launched the Bernie’s Daughter Podcast on Oct. 5, 2023 — what would have been Mac’s 66th birthday.

“For me, the podcast is really just about continuing to keep his legacy alive,” she said on a September 2023 episode of Beyond The Hype with Alfred A. Edmond, Jr. “It really warms my heart to know that people still care about him after all these years.”

The podcast features collaborators and friends of Mac’s, including Dee Dee Davis, Cedric the Entertainer, Mo’Nique and Haddish.

In October 2023, Je’Niece told NBC Chicago how she thinks her dad would have responded to her launching the podcast, joking, “Good job. Keep up the good work. You’re using your head for more than a hat rack!”