Jeff Goldblum’s late brother was ‘sent to therapist to fix homosexuality’

Father was 'conspicuously cruel' to gay son, actor says

Olivia Petter
Saturday 26 October 2019 12:58 BST
Comments
Up with the lark: the veteran actor sets his alarm for 5am
Up with the lark: the veteran actor sets his alarm for 5am (AFP/Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jeff Goldblum has opened up about his father's “cruel” treatment of his late brother, who was sent to therapy “in order to fix” his homosexuality.

The actor said his father Harold had a “traditional masculine sense of himself” and kept his son Lee's sexuality secret from the rest of the family after learning he was gay.

“He didn’t tell the rest of us,” the Jurassic Park star told The Times Magazine. “Sent him to a therapist in order to ‘fix him’. It was all secret. That’s not so nourishing.”

The 67-year-old added: “My dad was, without knowing why, conspicuously cruel to [Lee] at times.”

The actor explained how his older brother experienced many “troubles of one kind or another”, including "physical ailments, [being] overweight, pharmaceuticals abuse and self-medication issues".

Lee attended medical school but quit to join the army and later become a taxi driver, Goldblum said, before returning home to lived with his parents "for the last couple of decades of his life".

Elsewhere in the interview, the actor recalled meeting his wife, Emilie Livingstone, and introducing himself as “Jeff Goldblum” rather than just “Jeff”.

Livingstone, however, did not know who he was and has "still has not seen most of my movies", Goldblum revealed.

Asked if he was trying to indicate that he was famous to Livingstone, the actor replied: “Without falling into, ‘Hey, do you know who I am,’ or doing anything like that, I was trying to do an elegant version, my own variation, probably not successful, of, ‘If you happen to know, by the way, I’m Jeff Goldblum.’ ”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in