Kelsey Grammer has struggled with the loss of his sister, Karen Grammer, for decades. But now, the Cheers alum is opening up about his late sibling and honoring her in his 2025 book, Karen: A Brother Remembers. In the member, the actor takes readers back in time and through the aftermath of Karen’s death.
“I don’t know why I spent so much time feeling like I was coming up short,” Kelsey said during a May 2025 interview with ABC News, referring to his sister. “I always felt like I was missing it, just a little bit behind them — behind the game, not quite up to it. And she always reassured me I was doing a good job, that I was a good brother.”
Noting that he was the older sibling, Kelsey also said to ABC that Karen was the “bolder” one out of them.
Below, learn more about Kelsey’s late sister, Karen, and what happened to her.
Karen, had a full life ahead of her. Describing his sister as “an Oreo cookie dipped in an ice cold Coca-Cola,” the Fraiser star also called her “a poem, a light, fun, innocent, and wise” in his book.
“She wrote poetry and loved being alive; we could laugh for hours together,” Kelsey wrote in his memoir “I was supposed to protect her — I could not. I have never gotten over it. I was supposed to save her. I could not. It very nearly destroyed me.”
