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Colbert's Grief: A Shared Human Experience
19 May
Summary
- Stephen Colbert shared his personal grief publicly for the first time.
- His father and two brothers died in a 1974 plane crash.
- Colbert found unexpected meaning in his grief for others.
Stephen Colbert, nearing the end of his tenure on The Late Show, has reflected on a moment when he became the interviewee. In 2019, during a conversation with Anderson Cooper, Colbert shared deeply personal experiences of grief. He revealed that the loss of his father and two brothers in a 1974 plane crash, an event he had not spoken about publicly before, was unexpectedly meaningful to others.
The tragic incident occurred on September 11, 1974, when his father, Dr. James Colbert Jr., and brothers Peter and Paul died in the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 near Charlotte, North Carolina. Colbert spoke about realizing the value in experiencing profound grief, not as a source of pain, but as a way to understand and connect with the suffering of others.
He also drew parallels to the public grief surrounding the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, noting a "strange connection" and the profound shock of sudden loss.
