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All There Is with Anderson Cooper

Kelsey Grammer: A Brother’s Love and Loss

12/17/202533 min

In 1975 Kelsey Grammer’s 18-year-old sister, Karen, was murdered. For fifty years his loving memories of her were colored by questions about her death. In this moving conversation, Kelsey tells Anderson how he finally found answers and, in doing so, the beloved sister he lost so long ago. This conversation contains some graphic descriptions of violence.  

Join the community to share your story and watch Anderson's weekly streaming show All There Is Live at cnn.com/allthereis. 

Host: Anderson Cooper Showrunner: Haley Thomas Producers: Chuck Hadad, Grace Walker, Emily Williams Associate Producer: Kyra Dahring Video Editor: Eric...

Clips

Discovering Karen’s last steps
Her final words revealed
Defending mediumship’s role in grief
A message from Karen
Finding family joy after loss
Rage, guilt, and release
Walking her last day
How to remember the lost

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Anderson Cooper· Host0:01

    Last night, I sat on the anchor desk and read the news about Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, murdered in their home. There is no shortage of sadness tonight, not to mention almost unimaginable shock and horror. I didn't know Rob personally, but his work touched me.

  2. Speaker 10:16

    Are you okay?

  3. Anderson Cooper· Host0:19

    When I first saw Stand By Me, I remember crying in the theater. It was a coming of age film about childhood friendships, and it made me reflect on my own painful coming of age after my dad died.

  4. Rob Reiner· Soundbite0:31

    Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder? These go to 11.

  5. Anderson Cooper· Host0:41

    I also loved his mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. It remains one of my favorite movies of all time. In September, I interviewed Rob about a Spinal Tap sequel he had made, and I'm so glad I did. When we started talking, I think he was surprised and definitely amused at how much I love Spinal Tap and how many of the lines I knew by heart.

  6. Rob Reiner· Soundbite1:01

    When we first did it, people came up to me and they said, "I, I don't understand this. Why would you make a movie about a band nobody's ever heard of?"

  7. Anderson Cooper· Host1:09

    Uh-huh.

  8. Rob Reiner· Soundbite1:09

    And one, you know, "Why wouldn't you make it about The Beatles?" They thought it was a real band.

  9. Anderson Cooper· Host1:13

    I mean- They thought it was a, a real documentary. Anybody in the world who does this j- hand gesture, I mean, you know it's from Spinal Tap.

  10. Rob Reiner· Soundbite1:18

    Yeah.

  11. Anderson Cooper· Host1:18

    [laughs] Like, I, you know, it's like, it's like the puppet show in Spinal Tap [laughs] and someone just sitting there like this.

  12. Rob Reiner· Soundbite1:22

    You know everything from it.

  13. Anderson Cooper· Host1:24

    I do.

  14. Rob Reiner· Soundbite1:24

    [laughs] You know every line from that film.

  15. Anderson Cooper· Host1:26

    I'm obsessed.

  16. Rob Reiner· Soundbite1:26

    More than I do.

  17. Anderson Cooper· Host1:27

    [laughs] I'm so glad

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