Subscribe
Follow Us
Seinfeld's Michael Richards was born out of a result of a sexual assault. He learned it later in life, and it had some devastating emotional results for the talented actor.
PEOPLE reported that in his new upcoming memoir, Entrances and Exits, he wrote how this affected his life and made him feel unwanted. Luckily, he came to terms with everything, but it hasn't been an easy journey.
Michael Richards reveals how he was born due to a sexual assault
According to his story, Richards's mother always told him that his father had been killed. However, after doing some math — the story didn't sit well. So, he confronted his mother about it, but she assured him that he died in a car crash.
After pressuring her more and more to get honest about the details, his mom finally admitted that his conception was due to a sexual assault. She wanted to get an abortion, but at the time, they were illegal. Another option would've been putting him up for adoption, but she decided not to go that route.
As you can imagine, this hit the actor hard.
“I had to come to terms with knowing I was unwanted or that my mother wanted to get rid of me,” he said.
“It's definitely something that I have had to look into over the years to discover how my anger arises out of a feeling of inferiority,” he continued. “I have a temper, and it stems from that unwantedness, not being acceptable, not being understood, not being good enough to be liked or even loved.”
Some of the effects led him to turn down a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because he didn't feel “deserving.” Also, he passed on hosting Saturday Night Live because he “didn't feel good enough.”
Article Continues Below
“I felt every week during Seinfeld I was never really satisfied with my performance and that I could always do better,” he noted. “And as the stakes got higher, the pressure to always be good was difficult. And to accept myself even when my audiences were loving me and the awards, accolades and all the offers were coming in — it felt almost impossible sometimes, way too overwhelming.”
He added, “I'd think, ‘I don't like myself as much as they like me. They wouldn't like me if they knew the real me, the person behind the character that they're laughing at.”
Another revealing moment in the memoir is when Richards talked about how co-star on Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, threatened to quit the hit show. It was due to his character, George Costanza, not having enough screen time.
Page Six has an excerpt from the memoir and states that the incident happened in 1991 during the Season 3 episode, The Pen. In it, Jerry and Elaine (Julia-Louis-Dreyfus) visit Florida to see Jerry's parents. Richards and Alexander are not in the episode.
Because of this, Richards says Jason “threatens to quit after learning that he's also not in the episode. He's furious.”
Michael Richards's memoir Entrances and Exits will be available on June 4.
