Tina Fey's Husband Calls Fredric Brandt's Shocking Suicide 'Very Sad,' As Wife's Show Under Fire For Parody Of Late Celeb Dermatologist
Apr. 7 2015, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Tina Fey's husband called the suicide of dermatologist Fredric Brandt "very sad," after his wife's parody of the doctor on her Netflix show reportedly left him "devastated."
Jeff Richmond told Daily Mail that he didn't "know anything about" the 65-year-old doctor's death. "Tina might know, I don't ... she's not home."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, sources told multiple media outlets that the "Dr. Grant" character played by Martin Short on Fey's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt left Brandt very upset.
Brandt's longtime publicist Jacquie Tractenberg told the paper that while "he did not commit suicide because of the show ... the show didn't help" as "it was mean" and "he felt bullied" by the parody.
"It was mean-spirited picking at the way he looked for no reason at all," Tractenberg told the paper. "But he suffered from depression before that."
A separate source told People that the Dr. Grant character was "a mean characterization" of Brandt -- but not the reason he hanged himself in his Miami mansion.
"He was a human being, no one would like that," the source told the magazine. "It was making fun of him for the way he looked and it was mean and it was bullying."
Watch the video on RadarOnline.com
The source -- calling Brandt "the nicest, kindest man alive" -- wondered why Fey used him as comic fodder for her Netflix series.
"Does Tina Fey teach her daughter to make fun of people?" the source said. "I don't think so. As a mother, I wonder if that's what she teaches her daughter. If someone looks different from you, do you make fun of them?"