Who Are Tisha Campbell's Two Son, Xen And Ezekiel Martin?

From portraying Gina Waters in "Martin" to starring alongside Neil Patrick Harris in "Uncoupled," Tisha Campbell has been a notable face in comedy. Given her unforgettable roles as a strong female lead in popular family sitcoms such as "My Wife and Kids," familial bonds have seemingly been at the forefront of Tisha's acting career. The same can also be said for her personal life, as she has garnered a reputation for being a doting mother of two boys, Xen and Ezekiel Martin.

Before getting caught in a scandalous rumor regarding Will Smith, Duane Martin was romantically linked to Tisha since their marriage in 1996. In 2001, the two welcomed Xen, and later Ezekiel in 2009. Despite their apparent disdain for constant public attention, Tisha loves shining a spotlight on her two kids whenever she has the chance to, with their personal lives intact, of course. 

Tisha's journey to motherhood wasn't smooth sailing, however, as her children faced a plethora of notable instances they'd have to overcome. Whether it be dealing with a developmental disability or overcoming the aftermath of their parents' divorce in 2018, both Xen and Ezekiel have faced their fair share of ups and downs. Nonetheless, Tisha has made sure that they came out the other side unscathed, and as a result, they've grown to be two wonderful boys. To learn more about their amazing growth, allow us to introduce you to Tisha's two sons, Xen and Ezekiel!

On August 8, 2001, Tisha Campbell and Duane Martin welcomed Xen Martin to their growing family. Despite the amazing transition to motherhood, it quickly turned bittersweet as she noticed non-verbal signs of autism in baby Xen. During her interview with Hollywood Unlocked, Campbell suggested that these signals showed up as early as 6 months. "By 6 months, I knew in my heart of hearts, and in my gut that there was something not right," she said. "But then there were some gifts that was like, crazy. My son, at 5 months, could recognize things that a baby shouldn't be able to recognize."

Once Xen was 23 months old, he was officially diagnosed with autism, which was presumably the diagnosis his mother expected. Nonetheless, Campbell didn't let this impact his ability to live a full life during his childhood. During a 2020 interview with Essence, she fielded questions regarding autism and how important it is to change the stigma of the disorder in predominantly Black and Hispanic communities. In doing so, she was asked about Xen's childhood and how he adjusted to his diagnosis. "He's never been in a special needs class because I wanted him to model after typical kids, and now he's a typical kid," she stated. "He has a girlfriend and he is now speaking; you can't shut him up. ... So I'm blessed because we were able to catch it early."

Throughout his childhood, Xen Martin never showed any interest in following in his parents' footsteps. He did, however, develop a passion for animals. With this in mind, his journey to attending college was predetermined from a young age. From working two jobs to maintaining stellar grades in high school, Tisha Campbell informed her Instagram followers in 2020 that Xen got into the college he had always wanted to get into. "Today, my son, Xen, got into the college he's talked about since he was 8 years old," she wrote. "He didn't wait for anyone to help him. He didn't wait for us to help him, and when someone said he'd never get in — he applied anyway. ... You are amazing, man. Mommy loves you with all my heart and soul."

As of this publication, his goal of working with animals full-time is becoming more of a reality. Though he's still in pursuit of his zoology degree, Xen is also splitting his time studying by getting hands-on experience helping animals. In April 2025, Campbell took to Instagram to show her visiting Xen at his job. "So, Xen is making me so proud because he's currently studying in college, and wants a doctorate to pursue a career at a big university to become a professor of animal studies and currently has a job working with rescue animals," she said. "You can do anything, baby! Mommy's so proud. Always!"

Though Xen Martin never aspired to be in the public eye like his parents, that doesn't mean he's never flexed his own creative muscles. Similar to Will Smith's oldest son, Trey, Xen showed signs of wanting a become an online content creator when he started to upload videos to YouTube in 2016. At the time, his content leaned toward his primary passion for animals. His series, Zoologist Network, saw Xen either tell viewers about animal facts or travel to places like Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park to experience a wide array of different animals. He'd even have his mother, Tisha Campbell, and his younger brother, Ezekiel Martin, make a cameo, fielding questions about dolphins, spiders, gorillas, and more.

Over the years, his content then strayed away from animals and more into comics. As a comic book buff, Xen used his platform to share unique ideas about how he'd rewrite various stories from either the Marvel or DC universe. His Instagram also served as a platform where he'd share these ideas and further promote his YouTube channel. Despite the immense amount of creativity shown in his videos, it appears to be more of a passion project for Xen than it is a means to gain stardom, as his channel only has 354 subscribers as of this publication.

As a doting mother of two, it's hard for Tisha Campbell not to be concerned for her children's well-being. Given that Xen Martin is a Black man who is on the spectrum, any lack of knowledge of the common malpractices by police officers could result in unwanted and even fatal encounters. To ensure Xen's safety, Tisha looked to her brother, Stan Campbell to create a program under IDD Safe known as Spectrum Shield Training, which is dedicated to helping those on the spectrum properly navigating and de-escalating tense interactions with the police. 

In a 2024 YouTube promotional ad for IDD Safe, Xen spoke about his experience being the first person to do the program and why he needed to learn these skills as someone who's on the spectrum. Aside from his condition, he also touched on the harsh truth about the judicial system that, in many ways, can prove to be more harmful than people realize. "We think the world is always sunshine and rainbows, but we grow up and learn that it's not," he explained. "These things can happen. You can wrongfully go to jail. You could wrongfully end up dead, and that's not something we want to deal with. ... Learning how to deal with the police is the best way to learn how to get home safe." 

While Xen Martin may not have aspirations to appear on the big screen, he did, for a brief moment, jokingly consider becoming a musician. This wouldn't be much of a surprise given his mother's background in singing. Tisha Campbell's innate talents, however, appeared to allow her to sniff out those who are gifted versus those who aren't. Although she allowed her children the freedom to explore various career opportunities, she didn't hold back on what she felt about Xen's singing abilities, even if it was a joke.

In March 2025, Campbell took to Instagram to share a comedic moment between her and Xen. In the video captioned "Stay yo butt in school," the aspiring zoologist referenced a time when he got on stage with his mother to perform. The experience made him feel like "a star," prompting him to sarcastically express his desire to become a singer. Campbell — not behind this idea — dismissed his aspirations, stating, "You don't have an ear, babe." In response to those who actually wanted to hear him sing, Xen took to his Instagram just a day later to share a video of him singing an out-of-tune and family-friendly cover of the "Not My Waterpark" from "South Park." Before this was a clip where his younger brother, Ezekiel Martin, said, "Xen, I'm your brother. I'll tell you the truth. You have no talent."

Born on September 8, 2009, Tisha Campbell and Duane Martin's second child, Ezekiel Martin, arrived 8 years after their firstborn. Surprisingly enough, Campbell shared similar motherhood fears to Britney Spears. In 2010, Campbell told People she was scared of introducing another child into her household because she was unsure if she could give Ezekiel the same amount of attention she gave Xen. "Xen wanted a sibling so badly. We waited a long time," she told the publication. "I didn't know if I could handle two. We wanted to give Xen as much attention as possible. How do you give love to two human beings like that?"

In her 2019 interview with Hollywood Unlocked, Campbell added more context to this initial uncertainty, citing Xen's diagnosis as something she thought was unmanageable for her. "See, that's the thing. I was afraid that I couldn't do that, and I'm going to be quite honest with you. So, that's why there's such a gap between the first child and the second child," she said. "My second child is 10. And I wanted to be able to give [Xen] all the focus until I knew he was stable enough to have a second child." It worked out in the end, as not only did Ezekiel not show any developmental issues as an infant, but he was blessed to receive the same amount of love from both parents and his older sibling.

Tisha Campbell's Instagram is flooded with failed attempts to teach her sons valuable lessons. While most of which are generally humorous, some serve as great examples of Campbell's parenting skills. Despite this, however, these attempts are usually thrown back in her face as both Xen and Ezekiel Martin inherited their parents' comedic timing. 

This culminated in 2019 when Tisha appeared as a co-host on "The Real"  to share a clip of her having an honest conversation about their racial background with Ezekiel. While explaining their African-American heritage, Ezekiel then asked Campbell if his father, Duane Martin, was African-American, to which she responded that their entire family was. 

Seemingly surprised by this, Ezekiel wasn't convinced that his mother was African-American due to her skin complexion. This seemingly caused her history lesson to take a turn as she then had to convince Ezekiel that she was, in fact, Black as well. "So, he's looking at me and he's going, 'You look like my best friend Demelza, and Demelza's blonde, and she has blue eyes.' And I was like, 'No, I'm African-American. I'm Black!'" she recalled. He says, 'Your skin too?' I said, 'We come in an array of colors!' But he refused to believe me." Luckily, Ezekiel's suspicions didn't last forever, as he eventually understood what his mother was trying to teach him.

Throughout her journey to motherhood, Tisha Campbell always made her struggles transparent. Whether it was learning to nurture an infant amidst an autism diagnosis or helping Xen and Ezekiel Martin come to terms with her messy divorce from their father, Duane Martin, her role as a parent was something she always took seriously. Coupled with the fact that she's a well-established actor, privilege was yet another aspect of Xen and Ezekiel's lives that she had to help them understand. Luckily, this proved to be an easy task for Ezekiel, and it was all thanks to his older brother.

During her 2020 appearance on "The Real," Tisha spoke fondly of Xen and his transition into adulthood. While doing so, she made sure to also note just how mature Ezekiel was for his age. Given the context of her financial woes following the divorce,  she recalled Xen acknowledging the various hardships she faced to a 10-year-old Ezekiel to help them prosper as adults. In response, Ezekiel expressed his gratitude to his mother in a way she'll never forget. "He was like, 'Mommy helps us be independent, Zeke.' And then Zeke turns around to me and he goes, 'Mom, you are my safe place,'" she said. "What 10-year-old says that to somebody?"

Growing up, Xen Martin seemingly excelled in school. Due to his love for animals and his aspirations of attending his dream college, this made sense as it was a means for him to achieve his goals, all while holding down a stable job. As of this publication, it seems Ezekiel Martin is on that path as well. In 2022, Tisha Campbell took to Instagram to share a video of the two feeding a dolphin while they were on vacation. According to her caption, this was a result of both Xen and Ezekiel's academic success. "Xen got straight A's and Zeke got A's and B's, so their present was a trip," she wrote. "I hope I made them as happy as they made me."

Unfortunately, this wasn't always the case for Ezekiel. Unlike his brother, Ezekiel struggled in school. While speaking about her two children's growth with Essence, however, Campbell noted that Ezekiel eventually found his groove academically and was rapidly improving as a student. "He used to be a D, F-student," she recalled. "Something happened, and it clicked. And now he's a straight A student. He got one B."

Outside of Xen Martin jokingly declaring his foray into the music industry, he and Ezekiel Martin have strayed far away from having a career in show business. In addition to this, the two also tend to avoid most of their mother's work. This was also Tisha Campbell's doing, as, according to an Instagram video of her showing them "House Party" for the first time, she "just wanted them to consider me Mommy." Her tactic ultimately backfired once Ezekiel stumbled upon reruns of "Martin," where she played the strong-headed companion to Martin Payne, Gina Waters-Payne.

Due to this, Ezekiel jokingly refers to his mother as Gina. This became apparent in 2023 when she uploaded a video of Ezekiel feeding geese on Instagram. When he screamed out "Gina," Campbell — who was recording — responded, "Gina, my butt!" She dove deeper into their dynamic while appearing on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" that same year. After Hudson revealed that her children call her by her name, she asked Camobell if her two sons do the same, to which she responded, "Gina." As Hudson tried to clarify, Campbell elaborated on who specifically refers to her by her former fictional counterpart. "He calls me Gina! That little one!" she said, pointing to a picture of Xen and Ezekiel. "He only says Mommy when something's wrong."

Despite red carpet appearances, on-stage performances, acting gigs, and so on, Tisha Campbell kept both Xen and Ezekiel Martin away from the limelight. The only exception to this is her Instagram, where their tight-knit relationship is at the forefront for the public to see. This appears to be all in good fun, as most of the content she uploads is of them either explaining comic book lore, pranking each other, or celebrating their individual milestones. One series that caught the attention of her followers, however, was her "Sounds of Blackness" series, where she attempted to bridge the gap between the older and younger generations. 

As the title suggests, she reads commonly known phrases within the Black community, and either Xen or Ezekiel has to finish said phrase. Xen was the first to participate, and he got most of the answers wrong, leaving Campbell jokingly embarrassed. For the second part, Ezekiel got to participate and performed a little better than Xen. From knowing the term "catch these hands" to butchering the classic "Good Times" theme song, their comedic banter called for more parts to the social media series. Though Ezekiel "saved his family," with his prior performance, he didn't do so well on the third one, prompting Campbell to say that her audience was going to "take her Black card."