Kelsey Grammer Reveals Former Girlfriend Aborted Their Son When He Was in College

Yahoo

09-05-2025

Kelsey Grammer is opening up like never before.
The 70-year-old Frasier star reveals in his new memoir, Karen: A Brother Remembers, out now, that he and a former girlfriend named Jill aborted a son they conceived 'the September or October the year before I was dismissed from Juilliard.'
'We aborted him,' he writes in the book. 'I know that many people do not have a problem with abortion, and though I have supported it in the past, it eats away at my soul.'
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In an exclusive interview with Parade for the recent May 2 cover story, the actor admitted, 'It's a lingering regret. Yeah, it lingers. I don't know what else to say about it except I wonder what he might have done in life and how much potential existed.'
In Karen: A Brother Remembers, Grammer recalls that he and Jill decided to meet in New York before the end of Christmas break 'to keep it a secret and to kill him.'
He writes, 'I was not happy about it and told Jill that I was willing to keep him. I never wanted her to accuse me of being unwilling to have the child, but I also did not plead with her to save his life. I supported the idea that a woman has the right to do what she wants with her own body. I still do. But it was hard for me. Still is.'
Grammer, who previously made headlines for his stance against abortion, details his conflicting feelings. 'A woman's right to choose? Of course,' he writes. 'A child's right to exist? Of course. Life. We wrestle with it to this day. Or rather . . . some do.'
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He adds in the memoir that he regrets volunteering to have his unborn 'son's body vacuumed out of his mother,' pleading: 'God, forgive me.'
In recalling the experience, Grammer writes, 'I want to apologize to my son,' adding: 'I do not wish to harm Jill's family by this admission.'
In Karen: A Brother Remembers, Grammer looks back on the brutal murder of his beloved sister Karen Grammer, who was kidnapped, raped and stabbed to death in 1975.
Grammer opens up about the tragedy in detail in Parade's recent cover story. 'I want people to read the book. I want them to love the book. I love Karen. I want them to meet my sister," he exclusively told Parade. "She was a terrific girl. And that's the consensus with all the old friends that I've been able to speak to — how lovely she was and how fond people were of her. That's been a great discovery."