Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and drug addiction, which some readers may find distressing.
Kathy Griffin, the comedian, has disclosed her intense feelings towards her brother after discovering his pedophilic actions.
The 65-year-old comedian became a household name in the 1990s through her stand-up performances and her involvement with the improv group, The Groundlings. She gained further popularity with her appearances on the sitcom Seinfeld and her own reality show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.
However, many may not be aware of the challenging experiences from her childhood, particularly learning at the age of 10 that her brother, Kenneth, was a pedophile.
In a discussion on the podcast The Skinny Confidential earlier this year, she explained: “It was just a very heavy thing, it was very divisive in my family, obviously.”
“I have a tremendous amount of empathy for my mom and dad because I know that my dad did not molest my brother – he was molested by a coach and a priest.”
“I have the most empathy for his victims though.”
Griffin is now delving deeper into her past in a new YouTube video as part of her series, Talk Your Head Off. In the video, she disclosed that she frequently contacted law enforcement about her brother.
In paying homage to Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, tragically killed in their LA home, and where their son, Nick, has been accused of their murder, Griffin shared her own family’s turmoil.
“I’m going to open up to you about something now that I haven’t really talked about since my first book. When I talked about it, the rest of my family was very, very upset with me,” she said, referencing her memoir, Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin.
“Well, my eldest brother, Kenneth – who is now dead, thank God – he was a crack addict, he lived on the streets, was extremely violent. [He] probably had an undiagnosed mental illness that obviously did not go well with crack cocaine.”
“I can just tell you it was heartbreaking watching my parents try to save him his whole life.”
Upon discovering Kenneth’s alleged violent nature, as conveyed by his ex-wife and a former girlfriend who informed Griffin he had ‘beaten’ them, another former partner revealed to her that ‘he was molesting one boy and one girl that she knew of’.
The My Life On the D-List star stated that she subsequently contacted the police ‘like once a week’, but they ‘wouldn’t do anything’.
Griffin claimed the authorities informed her they could only act if the children reported the incidents themselves.
She added that to this day, she’s unsure if her family is aware of her actions.
“So, for all the ways that the Trumpers use the word ‘pedo,’ and all the stuff we have learned about Jeffrey Epstein, let me tell you something. Having your oldest brother be a pedophile is something that you don’t ever grow out of. You don’t get over it.
“I wanted to kill him because all I could think about were those children.”
Griffin revealed she chose to avoid her brother, leading to separate family gatherings during Christmas because she refused to ‘sit in a room with Kenneth once a year and act like he’s not a wife-beating pedophile’.
Kenneth passed away in 2001 from an overdose.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.