Actor Kelsey Grammer became angry with God and had a “hollow faith” following numerous devastating tragedies in his life, including the horrific murder of his sister Karen. But Grammer says his faith in God has healed through the writing of his new memoir, “Karen: A Brother Remembers,” as well as through his marriage to his wife, Kayte.
“I sort of cursed God at one point and said, ‘You know, hey, I’d rather you didn’t bother to help at this point because, honestly, this was colossal. I’m not interested,'” Grammer said in a May 7 interview with Fox News Digital about his spiritual journey.
“I would advise people to step away from that,” said Grammer, referring to the impulse to reject God as a result of suffering. “If I could, I would say, rather than turn away from God, turn toward him in these situations. Because it doesn’t [mean] God’s out to get you. But it feels like that sometimes. And that was very hard.”
Kelsey Grammer Says His Sister’s Death ‘Nearly Destroyed’ Him
Kelsey Grammer is a veteran actor best known for playing Dr. Frasier Crane in the sitcoms “Cheers” and “Frasier.” He has appeared in numerous films as well. In 2023, he starred in “Jesus Revolution,” a movie based on the life of Pastor Greg Laurie and set during the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Grammer played Pastor Chuck Smith, who founded the Calvary Chapel movement.
“I love this movie. I really love it,” Grammer said with emotion while promoting the film on “Live with Kelly and Ryan.” He described people who saw “Jesus Revolution” telling him afterward what a difference Chuck Smith had made in their lives.
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Grammer is primarily known for his role on a sitcom, yet his life has been marked by tragedy. He was born in 1955 in the U.S. Virgin Islands. His parents divorced when he was age 2, and when Grammer was about 11, he lost his grandfather, who helped raise him, to cancer. When Grammer was 13, his father was murdered.
Grammer was 20 when he received the news that his younger sister, Karen, had been brutally raped and murdered at the age of 18. Three men had been considering robbing a Red Lobster in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Instead, they kidnapped Karen and gang raped her before one of them, Freddie Glenn, stabbed her 42 times.
Glenn is currently serving life in prison, and Grammer has testified against Glenn getting paroled. “You don’t want to eat yourself to pieces because you can’t forgive somebody,” he told People magazine. “But it’s hard to forgive a person who consciously decided they wanted to murder somebody you love. This wasn’t just some temperance issue with him. It was deliberate. I can give you forgiveness, but you’re not going to get out of paying for it.”
