Rob Schneider insists 'door is always open' to estranged daughter Elle King

Rob Schneider has vowed his door is "always open" to daughter Elle King.

The Ex's and Oh's hitmaker previously told how the comic had sent her to "fat camp" as a child, forgot her birthdays, and was often absent, as well as sharing different views on LGBTQ+ issues, prompting him to issue a public apology and while the 62-year-old star admitted he isn't sure if she had accepted him saying sorry, he has insisted he will always be there for the country star.

Speaking on the Heretics podcast, he said: "The door's open, and I would say, you know, I love you and ... I'm there when you want.

"We had an exchange, and I'll leave it at that. The thing about, as a parent, you just have to love and be available and be an open door. My door's always open.

"The second she needs me, I'll be there. That's all you can do, and the idea that I'm going to somehow ... that I need something, that I can force my way or force ... no. It has to be something that ... an openness."

The Grown Ups actor admitted he wasn't prepared for the response he received when he admitted he "wasn't the dad" that Elle needed.

He said: "I wasn't prepared emotionally for the outpouring of what I received after that.

"There's an endemic – and I don't know if in other cultures, but in the United States – an endemic of kids who went off to college and came back and said, 'My daughter doesn't want to have a relationship with me anymore,' or, 'I can't see my grandkids.'

"It's an attack on the culture in a way that the culture is vulnerable."

Previously, Elle insisted she wasn't "trying to hurt" her father with her comments about her childhood.

She told People magazine: "I never in a million years thought that that was going to go viral. I was just speaking about my childhood and about my truth. I was not trying to hurt him."

However Elle didn't regret speaking out and her dad's public apology on The Tucker Carlson Show "means nothing" because of the outlet he chose.

She said: "A lot of people said, 'How could she say that about her family?' and 'Everything needs to be behind closed doors.' No, it doesn't. Sometimes you have to just say things and get them off your chest so that you don't have to carry it for the rest of your life.

"But ultimately, I think an apology on Tucker Carlson is like a double negative, right? Means nothing."