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Do you have fond childhood memories?
I grew up off and on with my dad. I was with my dad for vacations and summers and got to go on the road and tour with him, too. It was an unbelievable experience but I didn’t know that until I was older. Touring with my dad and introducing him on stage felt like the norm. Now I cherish those memories.

How old were you when your Dad landed in the hospital from his freebasing incident?
It was a week after my high school graduation. I knew it was a suicide attempt. He had so many demons.

Did you struggle with addiction, too?
Yeah, I went through all that. I crashed and burned. When I was old enough, I moved to L.A. and went club-wild. Drank anything, smoked anything, took anything. There was one time when I worked on one of my dad’s films and I was so high that my dad flew me from the set to a rehab. I nearly had a heart attack, in the hospital…I flatlined. I went through another tough period when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I tried to kill myself with an overdose on pills.

[I just wanted] to fit in. I’ve learned that life really comes down to acceptance. A lot of my turmoil came from trying to have acceptance for my dad. A lot of my drug abuse was my own naïve way of trying to be closer to him. He was a partier so I thought if I were like him, we could be close.

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[Sources: Feast of Fun; Soul Train; Examiner]

Flip the page to watch video of Richard Pryor Jr.’s thoughts on who’s playing his Dad in an upcoming Richard Pryor film…