Greer Grammer has candidly discussed her past estrangement from her father, Kelsey Grammer, which lasted for 12 years.
The actress from “Deadly Illusions” is the second eldest of the 70-year-old actor’s eight children. Kelsey Grammer welcomed his youngest child, a son, last month.
Greer, whose full name is Kandace Greer Grammer, is the “X-Men” star’s only child with makeup artist Barrie Buckner. She shared that from the age of four until she was 16, she had little knowledge of her father.
In an episode of the “Pretty Basic” podcast, Greer elaborated on her relationship with Kelsey Grammer and where they stand today.
During the session, the host, Alisha Marie, inquired if there were any common misconceptions about Greer’s upbringing. Greer noted: “People have misconceptions about me when they hear my last name because they’re like, ‘Oh, well, that’s Kelsey Grammer’s daughter. Clearly, she grew up in this way.’ And that makes so much sense. I’d think that too. But yeah, I think that’s the biggest misconception about me is: my dad left when I was four and then I didn’t meet him again until I was 16.”
She shared that her memories of Kelsey were limited to events like witnessing a taping of his hit show “Fraser,” and him attending her preschool production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
“I can see them when I think about them,” she mentioned. “But after that, I don’t know. And of course, my therapist was like, ‘Do you remember when you knew that your dad wasn’t a part of your life anymore?’, and I was like, ‘No’.”
Greer recounted an encounter with her father at a Blockbuster when she was 11, where she chose to run away. She also tried reaching out to him through his fan mail, asking, “Do you ever miss me? Do you think about me on my birthday?”
Additionally, Greer frequently watched the 1997 film “Anastasia,” in which Kelsey had a voice role. When she heard him sing, she thought, ‘that sounds like my dad,’ which her grandmother confirmed, making her feel it was ‘so cool.’
Eventually, the two reconnected in person and began developing a relationship.
Greer recalled, “When I was 16, I ran into him at a Christmas tree lot and he came up to me and he said, ‘Are you Greer?’. I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ Then he went, ‘I am—’ I was like, ‘I know who you are, duh.'”
Kelsey then provided her with his phone number, and they had lunch together the following week.
“That’s kind of what started our relationship,” Greer stated. “It took a couple of days to call him, because my mom was like, ‘Give them some time.’ I was ready to call him that day, like, ‘Let’s do this thing. I got a dad now, woohoo!’ She was kind of like, ‘Take some time to think about it over the weekend. Let them process it as a family and then call’.”
Greer also mentioned that she now has a positive relationship with her father, acknowledging that he had fulfilled his obligations by paying child support and her college tuition, which she described as ‘amazing’.
Kelsey Grammer had previously shared with People Magazine that he was trying to reconnect with some of his older children, admitting, “I have neglected a couple of the kids in my life, especially the first two. I’m trying to make up for a little of it now. I’m still their dad, so you can always have [a] chance to show up.”