Sibling’s death led to addiction

Actor Kelsey Grammer and wife Kayte Walsh.

Actor Kelsey Grammer and wife Kayte Walsh.

Published Apr 20, 2015

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Kelsey Grammer, 60, became addicted to drugs because he couldn’t “forgive” himself for his sister’s death.

The star was just 20 when his sister Karen, then 18, was abducted, raped and murdered by a serial killer and admits his self-destructive behaviour was a direct result of the tragedy.

Speaking of his abuse of alcohol and cocaine in the late 1980s and 1990s, he said: “I’ll speak to the straight of it. That was the time when I could not forgive myself for my sister’s death.”

In a 2009 letter opposing killer Freddie Glenn’s parole, Kelsey spoke of how he wished he could have “protected” his sister as he felt was his duty as her “big brother”, and he admits now his viewpoint was “not rational”.

Asked how he could have protected Karen even though they didn’t live in the same state, he told Vanity Fair magazine: “It’s hard to explain. It’s not rational. But it happens anyway. I know a lot of people who have lost their siblings and blame themselves.”

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