Kevin James, star of THE KING OF QUEENS and PAUL BLART: MALL COP, revealed on EWTN’s “Catholics and Cappuccinos” that he fasted on water alone for over 40 days, praying for his daughter’s health.
“It was a commitment I made to my daughter,” James told podcast host Siobhan Fallon Hogan. His oldest daughter, Sienna-Marie, who is on the autism spectrum, had been battling tics and sleepless nights, and James said he and his wife, actress Steffiana de la Cruz, had run out of other ideas.
The admission matters to Movieguide® readers because it is the same quiet faith that shows up in James’s current work. He now headlines Angel Studios’ SOLO MIO, and Movieguide®’s review called it “a genuine performance with hilarious, odd supporting characters.”
The review added that the movie carries a morally uplifting message: real love isn’t perfect, but it still pushes people to be better.
James has said he never set out to hit any specific number. He simply told himself he would get through one day at a time, drinking only water with a bit of salt for electrolytes and admits food crossed his mind constantly. Quitting felt tempting more than once, he has said, especially since fasting never came naturally to him.
What kept him going was smaller than any grand sign. One morning he knocked on his daughter’s door expecting nothing, and she told him she had finally slept well the night before.
Related: Kevin James Fasted 40 Days—God Answered His Prayer
“When I lock on, I can do something,” James has said of the moment. It is as close as he gets to explaining why he kept going.
Movieguide® first covered James’s fast back in May, noting that pastor Jentezen Franklin has taught that fasting sharpens spiritual focus during prayer and helps keep doubt at bay. Months later, outlets like Thought Catalog are still retelling the story, a sign that a father fasting for his sick child resonates differently than most Hollywood headlines.
James first shared the fast publicly on Joe Rogan’s podcast back in 2024.
The fasting story is a heavier note than James usually plays. Ahead of SOLO MIO’s release, he spent weeks posing online as Matt Taylor, a fictional fourth grade art teacher, in a stealth marketing bit that had fans convinced they had spotted him at the mall or behind a Paul Blart podium. It is a reminder that the same guy willing to run a monthslong joke for a movie premiere is also the guy who will not turn his daughter’s health into a punchline.
For Christian parents raising kids with extra needs, James’s story lands less like a celebrity headline and more like a familiar Tuesday night. He is candid that he does not see the fast as a formula, and that therapy and ordinary help mattered too. What he keeps coming back to is simpler: he prayed, he kept a promise to his daughter, and the answer showed up on its own timeline rather than his.
As for what’s next, James isn’t slowing down. He has teamed up with Jelly Roll for an upcoming country music movie, and if this fast taught him anything, it’s that the hardest commitments tend to be the ones most worth keeping.
Read Next: Kevin James: ‘I’m Continuing to Learn to Be the Person That God Wants Me to Be’
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