Kelsey Grammer is opening up about parenting his seven children in a new interview with PEOPLE
He says something he’s instilling in his younger three children is how to show up in life
The actor also discusses his new book, Karen: A Brother Remembers, about his late sister who was brutally murdered in 1975
Kelsey Grammer is shedding light on his dynamic with his seven children.
The Frasier alum, 70, and his wife of 14 years, Kayte Walsh, share three kids: daughter Faith, 12, and sons Gabriel, 10, and James, 8. He is also dad to daughters Spencer, 41, Greer, 33, and Mason, 23, and son Jude, 20, from his past relationships, and he tells PEOPLE he’s been “playing catch up with some of the older ones.”
“I have neglected a couple of the kids in my life, especially the first two,” Grammer says. “I’m trying to make up for a little of it now. I’m still their dad, so you can always have [a] chance to show up.”
It’s a lesson Grammer — who got divorced three times before marrying Walsh, 46, a former flight attendant, in 2011 — is hoping to instill in his younger kids.
Courtesy of Kelsey Grammer
Faith Grammer, Greer Grammer, James Grammer, Mason Grammer, Gabriel Grammer, Jude Grammer, Spencer Grammer, Susan Walsh and Alan Walsh. Standing behind the group are Kayte Grammer and Kelsey Grammer
“I probably should have been a little more clear and maybe less tolerant with the older ones,” he says. “I’m pretty tolerant with the young ones, but I’m clear about how there’s certain expectations and certain ways to navigate through a social situation: keep it close to the vest and play it straight, and you’re going to be well-served in your life. I’m a little more specific with them about doing their studies and being prepared. [I tell them], ‘What’s your job in life? Showing up.'”
Related: Kelsey Grammer’s 7 Kids: Everything to Know
He’s also encouraging them not to hold onto anger, something he’s had to work hard to do in the decades since his 18-year-old sister Karen was brutally raped and murdered by spree killer Freddie Glenn in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1975.
“They say stuff all the time, like, ‘I want to kill [Freddie],'” he says. “I tell them, ‘I understand it and respect you for it, but you’re going to want more from life than that.'”
Related: The Murder of Kelsey Grammer’s 18-Year-Old Sister in 1975 Still Haunts Him: ‘It’s Always with You’
Harper Select, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus
Kelsey Grammer’s book Karen: A Brother Remembers
Grammer writes about Karen and her death in his new book Karen: A Brother Remembers, out now. He says his older kids have not had a chance to read the book in full yet, but he hopes they will soon.
“I’ve read a couple of sections to them, revealed some of it to them, and I think they’re interested,” he says. “Being a younger person in the full blush of self ideation and self-realization, it might take them a few years to get there.”
In the book, Grammer also includes a passage about his kids following in his footsteps: his daughters Spencer and Greer are both actresses, and Mason and Jude are studying film production in college.
“Kayte actually brought that up,” Grammer says. “She said, ‘It’s an honor. Your child is saying, “I want to do what you do, Dad.”‘ I thought, ‘Well, I should put in this little section that doffs the cap to my children as a thank you.’ I know it was tough sometimes and maybe I wasn’t around all the time, but you’re doing what your dad loves doing, and that’s a cool thing.”
Karen: A Brother Remembers is available wherever books are sold.
Read the original article on People
