Sarah Silverman uncovers family secret about infant brother's tragic death

Fox News

20-05-2025

Sarah Silverman revealed a shocking family secret that her late father, Donald Silverman, once shared with her about her baby brother Jeffrey's tragic death.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the 54-year-old comedian recalled the moment that Donald told her about how he believed Jeffrey, who passed away at three-months-old, really died.
"I'm going to tell you a big bomb," Silverman said.
Silverman recalled that for most of her life, she was always told one version of the circumstances behind Jeffrey's death. The "Saturday Night Live" alum explained that at the time of Jeffrey's death, her paternal grandparents, Max and Rose, were caring for the infant while Donald and her late mother Beth Ann O'Hara were on vacation.
"The story was that something happened with the crib, and Jeffrey's little body slid and he got suffocated," Silverman said. "But if you look back, there was never a lawsuit with the crib company or anything."
However, Silverman told the outlet that Donald shared a very different story in 2022 when he attended a production of her musical "The Bedwetter" at the Atlantic Theatre Company's Linda Gross Theatre in New York City. "The Bedwetter" is an adaptation of Silverman's 2010 memoir of the same name.
The show included a scene in which a younger version of Silverman made a joke about Jeffrey's death. Silverman recalled that Donald visited her afterward and made a shocking revelation about how he believed his allegedly "violent" late father Max was involved in Jeffrey's passing.
"My dad says, 'I always felt that he was crying or something, and my dad shook him,'" Silverman told Rolling Stone. "'He shook him in a rage and killed him.'"
Silverman said that Donald's story immediately made sense to her because her father had endured a "heartbreaking childhood," during which "his dad beat the s--- out of him every day, just mercilessly."
"As soon as he said it, it was like, 'Of course, that's what happened,'" Silverman said. "His 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."
"That was my dad," Silverman said. "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," she added.
A representative for Silverman did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Silverman's parents divorced when the comedian was six, and they both later remarried. Beth died of pancreatic cancer in August 2015 at the age of 73. Donald passed away in May 2023, shortly after the death of his longtime wife Janice.
After Donald's death, Silverman shared a tribute to her late father on Instagram.
"My best pal, Schleppy – my dad, died last night," she wrote in the caption of the post, which featured photos of herself with Donald. "All the sisters, and grandkids surrounded him with love and singing and very dark f–ked up jokes this final week."
She continued, "But ultimately, he wanted to be with his love, Janice, who we lost last Monday. No shiva- of [sic] you wanna do something please donate to @2ndnurture."
"He always said he was the richest man in the world because of his family, and he was," Silverman added.