Molly Shannon talks about her father’s drinking, the tragic accident that killed her family

When SiriusXM appeared on Tuesday’s episode In “The Howard Stern Show,” the actress opened up about the tragic car accident that killed her mother, sister and cousin, and talked about her relationship with her father, who struggled with alcoholism and was intoxicated while driving. Accident.

“He didn’t really back down from the story until he died. I did not criticize him,” Shannon, 57, describes the tragedy in his new memoir, “Hello Molly.” “We’ll talk about it.”

“Saturday Night Live” Alim recalled his father drinking “all day” at a party and “trying” to get someone else behind the wheel.

“I think it’s like my mom said, ‘No, you can drive.’ It was 1968. It was 50 years ago,” Shannon said. “It’s against mothers getting drunk and driving. ‘Do not let friends drive drunk.’ We have a lot of awareness … … I’m not trying to get him released on bail – I’m taking it very seriously. “

The comedian stressed that his father “did not grow up blaming” and that he “tried hard” to raise her and her sister. Shannon said his father had to “learn to walk again” following the crash and had “braces on his legs.”

“So I complimented him. He tried so hard, Howard, he felt so guilty. He did,” Shannon told Stern. “I think he lived with it when he woke up in the hospital. They said, ‘Your wife was killed, your baby daughter Katie … your friend, your daughter-in-law.’ He was like, ‘No, no, no.’ , I think he lived with it all his life.

The star of “The White Lotus” reflects on his father’s war against alcoholism and how it relates to his sexuality.

“He’s a drinker, he’s struggled with it, but he’s going to AA and trying so hard to stay relaxed for years,” Shannon said of his dad, who died of prostate cancer in 2002.

He recalled a specific incident that happened on “SNL” in his final week.

“[It] It was a big deal to me, “Shannon said, recalling how I got to my apartment. [in] My last week, but he was drunk when he arrived. I’m so bored ‘He didn’t really drink alcohol for long days and was relaxed for a few years … Understand, he didn’t tell me I had cancer. He kept that secret. So he stopped at a bar in Grand Central Station, met a college boy, went straight to the college boy, and invited him back to my apartment, my little apartment in the village. “

“So when I walked in the door after the rehearsal, my dad said, ‘Molly, this is Kevin!’ You know he was drunk, “she recalled.” I was like, ‘Oh, glad I met you.’ I’m been crazy because you think you have to control everything. “

“Then we all went to dinner … I was so angry at him,” Shannon added. “This college kid wants to see this darkness between me and my dad. It was so embarrassing.”

The “divorce” star “usually” stays at his dad’s apartment, but he sends him to a hotel. He then called his manager Steven Levy and told him what had happened – and was surprised by Levy’s reaction.

“Steven lost his father when he was a child [Steven is] Gay and out and [he] Really connected to my dad. Bound. He was like a father figure to him, “Shannon said before recalling Levy’s telling his dad he was” too hard “to pick up the college student.

“[He] ‘You do not understand. He has given up so much for you, for you, and for Mary, “Shannon said.” I’m going to say, ‘What are you saying? Are you saying he’s gay? ‘ And he said, ‘I do not want to tell you. He will say. ”

Upon this revelation, the “Enlightenment” star said she could not “believe it” and added, “I felt so much pity. It was like the pieces of the story were all coming together. It was sad.”

Stern suggested he was a “next gay man” and Shannon’s father said, “Probably drunk because he was in so much pain.”

“He was depressed. He took this job that was over his head,” Shannon replied. “He may have been overdrinking because he was depressed. He’s gay. He keeps it inside. I think he tried to tell my mom before that, ‘I saw this psychiatrist, the psychiatrist told me I was a hidden gay man.’ She said, ‘Oh, that psychiatrist. The doctor should never have told you that. ‘So, yes, of course you’re going to drink. Imagine if you could not have had sex. It’s scary! “

Shannon recalled the day he asked if his dad was gay.

“I asked him one day in Four Seasons. We were sitting by the pool. I invited him to a press junk for ‘Serendipity’ and … we were so good,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to ask him, I’m going to ask him,’ because Steven Levy kept telling me, ‘He’s going to tell you, he’s going to tell you,’ but then he did not tell me.

She added, “So one day I asked him near the pool: ‘Have you ever thought you might be gay?’ He asserted that his confession had been obtained through torture, and that his confession had been obtained through torture.