Following the tragic news of actor/comedian Bob Saget‘s death, CBS Mornings has released the final interview with the late Full House star, who opened up about how his sister’s death pushed him into comedy. He also became a fierce advocate for raising awareness of the rare disease that took her life.
In the interview recorded in early December, a candid and at times emotional Saget spoke to chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook about losing his sister, Gay, to scleroderma in 1994. Via Entertainment Weekly:
“We were all in the room when she let out her last breath, and I don’t know how to explain it, and I’m going to go woo woo here, it felt like the soul going past us, literally felt my hair kinda move,” he recalled. “You know being an actor, that’s a very important thing if your hair gets out of place.”
Following her death, Saget used comedy to cope with the grief. “It was a defense mechanism and it truly helped me survive,” he said. “It helped keep me mentally alive rather than letting [grief] destroy me.” The America’s Funniest Home Videos star also dedicated himself to battling the disease that took his sister by joining the Scleroderma Research Foundation’s Board of Directors where he raised millions for the organization. It was a cause that was dear to Saget’s heart, and he was still actively raising awareness just weeks before his death as seen in this Instagram post from December.
Saget’s death caused an outpour of tributes to his kindness and generosity, which left Jimmy Kimmel in tears while attempting to eulogize his late friend. Saget’s dedication to helping others not suffer the same loss as his family is another example of those positive attributes that caused so many emotional reactions to his passing.
(Via CBS Mornings)