Was he the one that had his little daughter with him?
Yes. She wasn’t supposed to be here, because he was supposed to be sterile. I bet that part was made up, too.
He could have just said "I was in the Army ... I don't care to talk about it. It's not relevant." and that would have been the end of that.
But noooooo ...
'Idol' is addicted to sob stories ... and that's an open invitation for lying scumbags to ply them with BS.