The Tragic Event That Changed Stephen Colbert's Life

As of 2024, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is the most-watched late-night show in America. Colbert has won nine Primetime Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards and has twice been named one of Time's "World's 100 Most Influential People." But he hasn't always had a dolce vita. Colbert had to learn how to cope with grief from a young age.

Colbert was always close to his parents and 11 siblings in their South Carolina home. His father was a doctor and the youngest dean of the St. Louis University School of Medicine, while his mother was a stay-at-home mom. "She made a very loving home for us," he recalled on an episode of "The Colbert Report" (via Slate). "No fight between siblings could end without hugs and kisses, although hugs never needed a reason in her house. Singing and dancing was (sic) encouraged except at the dinner table."

But on "Oprah's Next Chapter," Colbert shared how his life was turned upside down when he was 10. His father and two of his siblings, 15-year-old Peter and 18-year-old Paul, were on a plane from South Carolina to North Carolina as part of a connection to New Haven, Connecticut, where Peter and Paul were planning to start the school year. Due to dense fog, the Eastern Airlines pilot descended too prematurely and crashed into a cornfield, killing 72 of the 82 people on board, among them, Peter, Paul, and their father. Their death shaped his life. "I was personally shattered," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper, who also lost his father at age 10. "And then you kind of reform yourself in this quiet grieving world that was created in the house. [...] It became a very quiet house, very dark."

After their deaths, Stephen Colbert described himself as distant. "Ordinary concerns of childhood suddenly disappeared," he told Anderson Cooper. "I had certainly a different point of view than the children around me." He then mentioned that science fiction and fantasy novels, especially J.R.R. Tolkien's works, helped him escape to the point where he read one book a day. 

Enduring such profound grief at a young age gave Colbert an acute understanding of human suffering, which enriched his empathy and connection with others. He explained, "What do you get from loss? You get awareness of other people's loss, which allows you to connect with that other person, which allows you to love more deeply and to understand what's it like to be a human being," he told Cooper. Therefore, it's no surprise that Colbert can connect with audiences on a more personal level, as he's not scared to approach challenging topics or to combine humor with introspection. "Suddenly, this important thing disappears. [...] The things that supposedly had status, don't have status anymore. Being willing to be ridiculous, or not worrying what people thought of your status suddenly became easier," he told Cooper. Being a comedian, then, seems to have been a consequence of his ability to deal with grief and pain.

Colbert now lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert, and their three children. His deepest joy is "to be with [his] wife and children." As he told Oprah Winfrey, "I built a wooden boat, and my eldest son, Peter, was out there working the tiller for the first time with a prop engine, and that was pure joy."