Richard E. Grant reveals father once threatened to 'blow his brains out'
Oscar-nominated actor Richard E. Grant has revealed his father once threatened him with a gun during a row over bottles of booze.
Appearing on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs — reported via The Guardian — Grant explained that his father began drinking heavily after his divorce from the star's mother.
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Frustrated by his dad's drinking, Grant began pouring bottles of whiskey down the sink in an incident that eventually led to him running away from their home in the African country of Eswatini.
“I was on the 11th bottle and felt something very cold on the back of my head and it was a gun," he said.
Grant added: "I ducked and ran into the garden and then he chased me and flicked on the garden lights.
"He found me and then got hold of me and said ‘I’m going to blow your brains out’, and I said ‘go ahead and do it! Just let’s get this over and done with'."
Grant said he "missed because he was so drunk" and the scary situation came to an end, with him subsequently fleeing the home.
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Despite this, though, Grant said his reflections of his father are "so much more than remembering that part of him", which was shaped by his dependency.
He added: "I knew that that was something that was entirely brought about by addiction rather than the man that I absolutely worshipped and loved."
During the discussion with host Lauren Laverne, Grant also opened up about the process of dealing with grief over the loss of his wife.
Joan Washington passed away in September 2021 due to lung cancer, with the couple having been married for 35 years.
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"I suppose there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to get over it because getting over it, people saying ‘time heals everything’ – I don’t agree with that," said the actor.
Grant added: "It implies that you’re forgetting about that person or disregarding them whereas these things have such a lasting impact on you that I never want to forget."
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