Chelsea Handler Gets Serious, Opens Up About Her Brother’s Tragic Death
Feb. 9 2012, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
By Alexis Tereszcuk - RadarOnline.com Senior Reporter
Late night funny girl Chelsea Handler is usually cracking jokes, but in a heartfelt new sit down she opened up about the pain she suffered when her older brother passed away in a tragic accident — and RadarOnline.com has video of her touching interview.
“He was hiking in the Grand Tetons and he literally fell like 80 feet off a cliff,” Chelsea told Rosie O'Donnell on The Rosie Show Wednesday.
Her brother Chet died when he was 22 and she was just 10 years old and she said it was an incredibly difficult time for her, but she closed off her emotions to everyone including her family.
“I was shut down,” she confessed. “I was shut down because I didn’t want to cry in front of anyone. I had seen my parents cry I was embarrassed.”
The comedienne told Rosie that in hindsight she now knows that shutting down was a bad way to handle the grief over his death.
“That’s very unhealthy and took a long time to get over.”
Chelsea went on to say that she felt her family wasn’t helping her deal with her grief.
“I was used to walking into a room and having everyone pay attention to me and I couldn’t get any attention. I was in pain too and I felt like no one was tending my pain.”
She said though that the tragedy ultimately drew her family closer and made them even stronger.
“I also look back at that as one of the most informing things in my life,” she said.
You can watch Chelsea’s interview with Rosie, right here on RadarOnline.com.
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