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Kelsey Grammer’s daughter, Greer, is ready to talk about growing up without her famous dad around.
The “Awkward” actress, 33, recalled the first time she reunited with the “Frasier” star, 70, during an episode of Alisha Marie and Remi Cruz’s “Pretty Basic” podcast earlier this month.
“The biggest misconception about me, and I never know how to talk about it except to just trauma dump, is that I didn’t know my dad until I was 16,” Greer told Marie during their chat on Nov. 5.
Kelsey and Greer’s mother, Barrie Buckner, met in 1991 and welcomed the actress a year later. The former couple, however, never married and ultimately split up shortly after Greer’s birth.
Although the “Cheers” star remained in his daughter’s life during her early years, Greer said that he “left” before she was 5 – and they didn’t reunite for good until more than 10 years later.
“My dad left when I was 4, and then I didn’t meet him again until I was 16,” the former MTV star shared. “Technically, I saw him once when I was 11, and I ran. It was in a blockbuster. I ran away.”
“But when I was 16, I ran into him at a Christmas tree lot,” she continued, “and he came up to me and said, ‘Are you Greer?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ And then he went, ‘I’m – .’ And I was like, ‘I know who you are. Duh.'”
Greer recalled that Kelsey provided her with a phone number during their run-in and that, after meeting for lunch the next week, they began to rekindle their relationship.
But despite not seeing her dad for 11 years, the “Melissa & Joey” star revealed that she still has memories of him from before he “left” – including one from the set of “Frasier.”
“Frasier” originally ran for 11 seasons from September 1993 to May 2004.
“It’s very interesting because I do have very specific memories of my dad from when I was young,” Greer explained. “I remember going to ‘Frasier’ at one point and wondering why the girls in the back kept redoing the scene.”
“Then I think my mom took me out of the audience because I was loud,” she joked.
Some other memories from Greer’s earliest years included the “Boss” star attending a school play she was starring in at the time.
“I have a memory of going to a party at my dad’s,” she remembered. “I have a memory of him going to my pre-school play of ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ which he also remembers, because we’ve talked about it.”
“But those are all very specific,” Greer added. “I can see them when I think about them, but after that, I don’t know.”
Still, growing up without her famous father around was not always easy for Greer, and she admitted that it is a recurring topic she discusses with her psychologist.
“Of course, my therapist was like, ‘Do you remember when you knew that your dad wasn’t a part of your life anymore? Did your mom ever sit you down?'” she told Marie. “And I was like, ‘I don’t think so.'”
“She was like, ‘You should ask her about that,'” Greer said. “I was like, ‘No. I think my brain’s probably blocking it out for a reason.'”
Kelsey and his daughter have since reconnected, and Greer even starred alongside him in Season 2 of the “Frasier” reboot last year.
As for his other adult children, the “X-Men” star has reunited with them as well over the years.
Besides sharing Greer with Buckner, Kelsey has daughter Spencer, 43, with his first wife, Doreen Alderman; daughter Mason, 24, and son Jude, 21, with his third wife, Camille Meyer; and daughter Faith, 13, son Kelsey Gabriel, 11, and son James, 9, with his fourth wife, Kayte Walsh.
More recently, the six-time Emmy winner and Walsh, 46, welcomed their fourth child together. Kelsey announced the exciting news while on the “Pod Meets World” podcast last month.
“It was like three days ago,” the actor revealed. “Christopher, that’s just joined the family.”
Kelsey later shared how his seven other kids reacted to the new Grammer clan addition during a chat with People published on Nov. 5.
“The family’s ecstatic,” he shared. “We’re all really having a great time. It’s really lovely. We are closer than we’ve ever been as a family, and I’m proud of that.”
English (US)