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Amy Schumer Tells Barbara Walters About Her Father’s MS Diagnosis: ‘It’s So Painful’

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 08:56 PST, Dec 18, 2015

Since Amy Schumer’s success with the movie Trainwreck, she’s been a bonafide star. Her status from comedian into a household celebrity has been practically overnight. Although Schumer chalks her sudden popularity up to a temporary situation, it has given Schumer a chance to open up about her father’s diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis.

Schumer was 12 years old when her father was diagnosed with MS, a disease that prevents the nervous system from properly communicating, which leads to immobility in most cases.

On Barbara Walters special, Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015, she opened up about her father’s diagnosis and how it was a real turning point for her in terms of what kind of role she took on in her family. Schumer revealed that she was the one that kept the family together, by providing a sense of humor.

She wrote her father’s MS into her film Trainwreck which was loosely based on her college days. In the movie her father was played by Colin Quinn, who passed away in the film. Amy Schumer told Walters that even though her father is still alive, the disease is “painful” to witness her father go through.

“Some days he’s really good and he’s with it and we’re joking around. And some days I go to visit my dad and it’s so painful. I can’t believe it.”

She continued, “In terms of my dad being sick, it was just confusing to me, especially the way MS works. He was in physical pain. That’s when I kind of took the lead and took care of everybody in my family. I would keep them – I would keep everybody laughing.”

Back in July, the comedian opened up about her father’s illness and how it has affected her romantic relationships. At the time, she was on CBS’s Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood and told Mo Rocco about her childhood.

“I think it was the divorce and my dad getting sick that were the wonderful gifts that made me the strong angel you see here today. I love to laugh. I seek laughter all the time. I think that’s something that also comes with having a sick parent is you don’t know what’s going to happen and so I’ll be like, ‘I’m psyched my legs still work.'”

Unfortunately, at the height of her popularity and success, Schumer’s movie Trainwreck was targeted, as a gunman opened fire in a movie theater that was showing the film in Lafayette, Louisiana. The gunman wound up killing two people and injuring nine. This made Schumer take a stand against gun violence. She also spoke about gun control.

She used her cousin Senator Chuck Schumer’s platform to speak out in the wake of the tragedy, over the summer. The actress told Walters about her decision to make a statement.

“Knowing it was my movie, I did feel some distant sense of responsibility. Did this animal seek out my movie? And from the way he felt about women, it sounds like he did. If I can help at all I’m gonna try, even if that means I’ll get hurt.”

Schumer also opened up about whether or not she sees herself becoming a mother or a wife. She stated that although she would like that, she doesn’t know if that’s really realistic for her.

Other celebrities featured on Walters’ list include Bradley Cooper, Caitlyn Jenner, Tracy Morgan, Ronda Rousey, and more.

[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]

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