Comedian Tiffany Haddish has never been shy when it comes to sharing her story about her tough upbringing. Her mother had schizophrenia. Her father left when she was 3. Haddish and her siblings were placed in foster care before her grandmother was granted custody. She struggled to read growing up. She’s been sexually assaulted. She’s used comedy as an outlet, and since then has had great success, including her breakout role as Dina in Girls Trip.
She’s an open book.
(Photo by Maarten de Boer/NBC/NBC via Getty Images)
But conversations about her past took a more serious tone in a sit-down with Tyler Henry of Hollywood Medium. While allegedly connecting with her late grandfather, Haddish was asked about her relationship with her father over the years. She told Henry that he had a habit of popping in and out of her life.
“My whole point to meet my father was just to know genetically what do I have to expect? And just ‘Where the hell yo a– been?'” she said. “Where yo a– was at when I was out here living in the streets?”
Henry told her that based on the information he was getting from her paternal father and what he was “seeing,” a relationship with her father wouldn’t be what she would hope for.
“You can only do so much,” Henry said. “Even though there is this reestablished thing, I do not see the relationship getting super strong, super close or super connected.”
She agreed and said she was on the fence about helping him out after everything they’ve been through.
“I reconnected with my dad when I was like 27,” Haddish said. “I offered to like let him come stay with me and let him come stay with me and then he disappeared again. Now he reappeared and he says he wants to come stay with me now. And there’s a part of me that’s like, well, you’ve kind of missed that boat.”
Haddish’s father (who is Eritrean-Jewish by the way) has battled health issues, and there have been conflicting reports over the past few months that he passed away recently. Back in May she shared with fans on Instagram that he was in the hospital suffering heart failure and pneumonia and she was worried about whether or not he would make it:
She didn’t share afterward if he’d pulled through, but by the time of this Hollywood Medium filming, she said he was still alive and looking for her to take care of him despite not being around for most of her life. Maybe it was because of her success, maybe he was just truly in need. Whatever the case, we hope she was able to reconnect with him in some way or get a sense of closure that brings (or brought) Haddish some peace of mind.
Check out her chat with Henry below:
