During an interview for a CNN Comedy segment, the former 'Saturday Night Live' star reveals that years of being stabbed, beaten and electrocuted by his mother led to him cutting himself.
- Oct 25, 2011
AceShowbiz - Darrell Hammond has shared details of his traumatic past. The "Saturday Night Live" veteran, who is known for his impersonation of Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Sean Connery, revealed in an emotional interview with CNN that he was a victim of abuse by his mother.
"When I was a child, I was a victim of systematic and lengthy brutality," spilled the 56-year-old when he sat down for a CNN Comedy segment. "I mean, stabbing, beating, being electrocuted, stuff like that." Having said that his father has never abused him, he asserted, "My mom did some things which have cost me dearly."
Darrell, who wrote a memoir titled "God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F***ed", believed that his abusive childhood led him to being severely self-destructive. "It started to manifest itself when I was 19 years old. That was the first time I ever cut myself," he recalled. "Over the years, it became habitual."
The "Epic Movie" actor went on to share that he was diagnosed with everything from schizophrenia to bipolar disorder, but was never in mental institution for a long time. Still, he did take medications that he described as "soul-killing drugs". He added, "I was on as many as seven medications at one time."
Though so, the drugs didn't stop Darrell from hurting himself. When he was performing on "SNL", he confessed, "There was cutting backstage." In fact, he was even taken from the studio to a psychiatric ward at one point. "The week that I did the Gore debates, I believe I was taken away in a straitjacket," he remembered.
"And there's no way you people would know about that," he continued to share. "But 'SNL' is a place where if [Executive Producer] Lorne [Michaels] judges if you can hit the ball over the wall that night, then you're gonna go out and step up to the plate." He added, "I didn't want to let Lorne down."
During the chat, Darrell also talked about why it was difficult to be around his war veteran father although his old man was never abusive toward him. Despite his dark past, he stressed, "I don't feel ashamed of falling down, because I got hit by a Mack truck. The fact is, I kept trying to get back up, and then I did."
