Frasier may be one of the biggest sitcoms of all time, but the off-screen life of the
show's star hasn't always been a hit.
Suffering the loss of those closest to him, fighting to overcome addiction, and struggling
to pass on his legacy, this is Kelsey Grammer's tragic real-life story.
"Do you ever get over it?
No."
Tragic losses
In 1968, when Grammer was just 13 years old, a man broke into his father's home and shot
him to death.
Grammer told E!,
"[The assailant] lit a ring of fire around his house and as my father came down to investigate
what was going on, he […] shot him several times and […] dad died."
Unfortunately, there would be little justice for the family.
According to People magazine, the killer was "found not guilty by reason of insanity."
Grammer later found a father figure in his TV dad, Martin Crane, played by English actor
John Mahoney.
"We're not leaving you at home, you're coming with us, wouldn't be any fun without you.
Oh really dad?
I was so hoping that you would say that."
Even years after Frasier wrapped, the two remained friends - until Mahoney's passing
in 2018.
Grammer mourned the loss, tweeting, quote, "He was my father.
I loved him."
More horror
In 1975, Grammer's 18-year-old sister Karen was kidnapped, assaulted, and brutally murdered
by killer Freddie Glenn "and two accomplices," according to the Daily Mail.
She was later found dead with 42 stab wounds, per The New York Post, and it was a then 20-year-old
Grammer who had to identify his sister's brutalized body.
By Grammer's own admission, the tragedy plunged him into an abyss of self-destructive behavior
and addiction.
He revealed in a conversation with Oprah,
"I miss her in my bones."
"I was her big brother.
I was supposed to protect her - I could not."
"It very nearly destroyed me."
Then, in 1980, just five years after his sister's death, a freak accident took the lives of
Grammer's half-brothers, Stephen and Billy, who perished while scuba diving off the coast
of St.Thomas.
In the years since his sister's death, Grammer has continued to honor his sister's memory
by actively working to keep her killers in prison.
"When my father's killer was released, I found out through the National Enquirer."
"In my sister's case, I have been allowed a voice in the parole hearings of her killers."
Grammer spoke out against Glenn's bid for parole in 2014, saying that letting him go
free would be a quote, "betrayal of [his] sister's life."
The plea worked.
Struggling with substance abuse
Grammer began drinking heavily and abusing drugs - particularly, cocaine - to cope with
his sister's loss.
He told Oprah,
"My love affair with cocaine, which was my drug of choice, was motivated by a few other
things, about not really deserving whatever I had gotten."
He added,
"Also I liked it."
But his habits culminated in a series of arrests for drugs and drunk driving.
According to the L.A. Times, Grammer even flipped his car while driving under the influence
in 1996.
The incident prompted the actor to check into rehab.
He told Oprah,
"It just eventually becomes something you can't keep doing."
Grammer went on to reveal,
"I finally quit blow in 1996, that's when I was done.
[…] It's a fond memory, but it's no longer a friend."
A difficult legacy
Grammer married Leigh-Anne Csuhany in 1992, but after a brief and abusive marriage, per
Grammer's book, So Far…, the relationship ended when Csuhany made an attempt on her
own life, while pregnant.
Doctors were able to save her, but not their unborn child, according to People magazine.
Grammer released a heartfelt statement saying he was "deeply saddened" over the death of
their child, adding,
"I had dreamed of raising the baby in a stable and loving environment."
Grammer went on to father children with four different women, but when he married his fourth
wife Kayte Walsh in 2011, they initially had some trouble growing their family.
Grammer admitted to i News,
"Kayte and I had a couple of miscarriages before we had our first child.
That was devastating.
These things are hard."
These days, however, Grammer is reveling in parental bliss - with his seven children,
as of mid 2019.
"Are you happy?
Yes.
Yeah."
His near-death experience
In 2008, the sitcom TV star was ready for a much-needed break, so he set off for vacation
in Hawaii.
But just when things were getting started, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack.
"Y'know it's one of those things, I stood up, and I felt a little funny, and then I
realized, oh shit I'm having a heart attack."
Though his representatives later downplayed the news to the media, claiming Grammer had
only had a quote, "mild" attack, it was far from the truth.
In actuality, Grammer had almost died.
He revealed to Entertainment Tonight,
"They had to blast me twice and get me started all over again."
Though he nearly lost his life, Grammer later told Oprah that he was thankful for the health
scare, saying,
"It was a good thing in my life.
It was a good event in my life.
It was the physical manifestation of whatever lesson was being taught to me, which was you
better fix [your life] now.
It took me another couple [of] years, but I did get it.
And it was time […] to change a few patterns."
"I said a little prayer."
"Let's get this over with, let's get this resolved, I got things I gotta do."
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