Sarah Silverman reveals jaw-dropping dark family secret her father told her before he died
Sarah Silverman shared a shocking revelation her late father Donald Silverman told her about how her baby brother, Jeffrey, died.
The comedian, 54, had always been told that her three-month-old brother, who died before she was born, had 'suffocated' after he slipped through a space between the mattress and the bottom rail of his crib.
'The story was that something happened with the crib, and Jeffrey's little body slid and he got suffocated,' she recalled in a new interview with Rolling Stone.
'But if you look back, there was never a lawsuit with the crib company or anything,' Silverman went on.
The actress — who's getting ready to release a new special, PostMortem, reflecting on the deaths of her parents — was then floored with a devastating disclosure from her father.
She claims that prior to his death in 2023, Donald told her that he believed the infant was killed by her 'violent' grandfather — Donald's dad — after he 'shook him in a rage.'
When writing her 2010 memoir, The Bedwetter, she observed a significant detail: despite their differing perspectives on 'every issue of their marriage,' her parents shared the same narrative regarding Jeffrey's death.
In her book, Silverman recounted that while her parents, Donald and Beth Ann, were on vacation, her infant brother Jeffrey was left in the care of her grandparents, Max and Rose.
Max later told his son that during that time, he had been checking on crying Jeffrey at night because Rose had difficulty hearing.
The following morning, when her grandfather went to check on Jeffrey, he reportedly discovered the baby had suffocated.
In 2022, the year before Donald's death, he attended a Manhattan production of her memoir, which had been turned to a musical, seeing it five nights in a row.
The show contained a scene depicting a young Sarah making a joke about the death of her brother, to her grandmother, and nobody laughing.
After the fifth performance, Donald went backstage and shared a different account of Jeffrey's death, telling his daughter that his own father, her grandfather, was responsible.
The former SNL star recalled her father saying, 'I always felt that he was crying or something, and my dad shook him. He shook him in a rage and killed him.'
This revelation reportedly caused her manager to gasp.
The comedian had always been told that her baby brother, who died before she was born, had 'suffocated' after he slipped through a space between the mattress and the bottom rail of his crib; She is pictured in 2024
After hearing her father's bombshell claim, she said, 'As soon as he said it, it was like, "Of course, that's what happened." [Donald's] mother always stood by her husband. She watched him beat the s*** out of her son. I couldn't ask my mom, because she was dead,' she said of Beth Ann, who had passed away in 2015
'As soon as he said it, it was like, "Of course, that's what happened,"' Silverman went on.
'[Donald's] mother always stood by her husband. She watched him beat the s*** out of her son. I couldn't ask my mom, because she was dead,' she said of Beth Ann, who had passed away in 2015.
Silverman had shared about her father's 'heartbreaking' childhood, and how he was beaten daily by his father.
'He had a younger brother who wasn't touched. His father made the kids call him Mr Silverman.'
According to Silverman, her father frequently delivered shocking truths out of the blue.
She recalled: 'We were playing poker once, and he just dropped in that one of the priests at his school fondled him. I was like "Dad!" He was always dropping bombs.'
Her father passed away in 2023, shortly after the death of Janice, his second wife of over 40 years.
'My best pal, Schleppy – my dad, died last night,' the star wrote in an Instagram post at the time.
Her father passed away in 2023, shortly after the death of Janice, his second wife of over 40 years
'All the sisters, and grandkids surrounded him with love and singing and very dark f***ed up jokes this final week. But ultimately, he wanted to be with his love, Janice, who we lost last Monday.'
'He always said he was the richest man in the world because of his family, and he was,' Silverman added.
Silverman's new special, PostMortem, will be available to stream on Netflix from Tuesday 20 May.
Her past comedy specials include A Speck of Dust (2017) on Netflix and Someone You Love (2023) on HBO.
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