The Tragic 1974 Deaths Of Stephen Colbert's Father And Brothers

Publish date: 2024-04-16

In a 2015 interview with GQ, Stephen Colbert described the aftermath of the plane crash, saying, "I was left alone a lot after Dad and the boys died ... And it was just me and Mom for a long time." In 2019, he spoke to Anderson Cooper in a CNN interview about how he and his mother coped, stating, "There's this big break in the cable of my memory at their death. Everything before that has got an odd, ghostly tone ... My mother had me to take care of, which I think was sort of a gift for her, a sense of purpose at that point. But I also had her to take care of."

Although Colbert mentions it felt like it was just him and then him and his mother for a while, he actually had eight other siblings. Per CNN, Colbert is the youngest of 11 children. His deceased brothers Paul and Peter were the third and second youngest, respectively. However, the talk show host has never discussed how his siblings felt or how they may have helped each other through the grieving process, though this could be because he is the youngest and could have been the only one living at home after the incident occurred.

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