Molly Shannon is known for being one of the funniest comedians, and she got her big break when she was a part of several (very male-centric) Saturday Night Live seasons in the 90s. In her new memoir Hello, Molly chronicles her life in great detail, including tragic stories about her family, sprinkled in between behind-the-scenes SNL facts.
While promoting the new book, Shannon chatted with Howard Stern, who brought up a very disturbing story from her memoir regarding actor Gary Coleman, known for his breakout role on Diff’rent Strokes.
Stern described the story as “dark,” as Shannon said she remembers meeting with an agent at a fancy hotel in the late 80s. The actress described also meeting Gary Coleman, a client of the aforementioned agent, and his “relentless” behavior at the hotel.
“I was a virgin, so I wasn’t even thinking about that,” Shannon explained after Stern asked if she had expected something from Coleman. “He held my hand, and I was like, ‘He’s so cute!’ He had a suit on.” Then things went sour once the agent left.
He’s like ticking me a little…I was trying to be polite. I’m a polite catholic girl! I’m naive about that….He was relentless. He was trying to kiss me and get on top of me, and I was like, ‘Gary, stop.’ So I’d push him off. Then I would get off the bed, then he’d bounce on the bed – jump, jump, jump – and wrap himself around me, then I would fling him off, then he got on top of me…. I was like, ‘Gary, stop!’ but I guess because of his size I didn’t feel physically threatened. I go to the bathroom, and then he grabs onto my leg … I had to kick him off. Then I go lock myself into the bathroom and then he sticks his hand under the door and said, ‘I can see you!’
Shannon eventually sprinted out of the room, admitting that she wished she stood up for herself.
While the two were laughing during the clip, it’s clear the encounter made Shannon very uncomfortable. “It’s not funny, the agent leaving you alone, it’s all so f*cked up and so sad,” Stern says after the story. You can hear the whole story in the clip above.