Tag Archives: Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor once openly admitted he dated a transgender woman…and years later, his son Richard Jr. revealed to his true sexual identity to his pops, but also proudly expressed himself by performing as a drag queen artist. His son has now explained what that conversation was like and more.

Richard Pryor On Dating A Transgender Woman

Richard Pryor was not shy at all about revealing the time he dated a transgender woman. “Pause and rewind that back,” you say? Aight then: The legendary comedian said he tried a relationship with a transgender woman for about two weeks, also confessing that she resembled Josephine Baker:

[Via NY Daily News] One night, “I discovered that she was actually a he. For some reason, I didn’t care.  … I never kept him a secret. My best friend for instance, knew I was f**king a dude, and a drop-dead gorgeous one at that. I even admitted doing something different was exciting. But after two weeks of being gay, enough was enough and I went back to life as a heterosexual.” – Richard Pryor

Years later, Richard’s son, Richard Pryor Jr. has spoken out about his sexuality as well…

Richard Pryor Jr a.k.a. “Ivanna Schtup” Speaks On Being A Gay ‘Part-Time Drag Queen’

Richard Pryor Jr. is an actor, singer, comedian…and yes, he’s gay and proud of it. There are a lot of similarities between he and his Dad. In an interview with Feast of Fun, this is what Richard Jr. had to say about the how his parents handled him confessing to them that he was gay:

Richard Pryor Jr.: Dad [comedian, Richard Pryor] took it well, but Mom freaked out. She was like, ‘Oh, where did I go wrong?!!’ She thought that it was her fault. I expected it to be the other way around. You always think that people don’t know, but then you tell them and they’re like ‘Well, I already knew.'”

So, are you saying that your Dad already knew you were gay?
Pryor Jr.: “Oh God…how could he not know? One time I had picked up these two hitchhikers and my Mom caught them in the house when I wasn’t there…they were naked and when I got home my Mom called and said “Richard Jr. your Dad wants to speak to you!” Then my Dad just outright asked me, “Are you gay?” and I basically just cried & lied my way out of that one…LOL. This was before I came out, but he knew. I came out and then went back in [got married], and then came out again.”

On dressing in drag as his alter ego, “Ivanna Schtup”:

Pryor Jr.: “To me it’s performing…anything you do as far as being in front of people…it’s performing, it’s acting. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. it was never a thing for me like: ‘I wanna be a woman, you know. It was just the thing of me performing and just releasing a lot of things that were inside of me out as far as performance and being very theatrical.”

Habits Richard Pryor Jr. Said He Learned Directly From His Dad

Do you have fond childhood memories?
Pryor Jr.: 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?
Pryor Jr.: 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?
Pryor Jr.: 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.

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

Richard Pryor Jr. seems to have innately inherited and/or learned his father’s ability to live in his truths. That’s never a bad trait to have. Salute to the late Richard Pryor Sr. and his son for being bold enough to share their authentic selves with the world.

The late comic icon, Richard Pryor, and NFL icon-turned actor, Jim Brown, were best friends for many years. However, many say Pryor did his best friend dirty after he landed a $40 million deal; while Richard said it wasn’t personal, just business.

They shared a bond that seemed unbreakable. In his infamous 1982 stand-up film, Live On The Sunset Strip, Richard credited Jim with getting him off of drugs. He also said Brown helped him pull through his painful recovery after his 1980 free-basing accident that caused Pryor to set himself on fire and sustain third degree burns. 

In the early ’80s, Richard Pryor appointed Jim Brown as the president of his then-new Indigo Productions Company after inking a $40 million deal with Columbia Pictures and the Coca-Cola Co.. But then something suddenly changed…something that left Jim confused, the NAACP pissed off, and many accusing Pryor of betraying his friend due to ‘Hollywood politics.’

According to Jim Brown’s autobiography, Out of Bounds, there were a few things that began to tear a riff into their friendship:

“I learned a lot about drugs through Richard Pryor. Although I didn’t indulge, when Richard was hitting the pipe, he never came by and rarely called. I’d drive to Richard’s house and we’d talk for hours, I would try to convince him to enter the hospital but he was not a man to push.”

After Richard’s free-basing accident, Jim said the relationship between Richard and his family became far more strained, and he also didn’t trust the women in his life. Pryor thought they were after his money:

“How could a motherf***er like me get these fine bit**es? They don’t really love me. They want my money,” Jim claims Pryor told him.

Pryor’s family asked Jim for Pryor’s safe combination, but Richard asked Jim to tell them “no”, says Brown…this is where it got ugly:

“Richard was so weak, he could barely write. His family called me again and said they needed $25,000 to pay bills. I had to talk Richard into writing a check. But his family came to resent me. I had refused to give them the combination to the safe.”

“Then it came apart. I had been the one the family had to go through for money and I made crucial decisions on his behalf. One day, Richard told his family that I had become like a father to him.”

One afternoon, Richard asked me to come by. When I arrived, his family hardly looked at me. Richard was upset, I asked him, what’s up? He said, ‘Well, look, I don’t think I really need you anymore. I think my family can take care of everything.’ My mouth fell slightly open, when I regained my composure, I said okay and left.”

And that was how it all fell apart. Afterwards, the NAACP and many in the public, alleged that Pryor fired Brown from the president position of his Indigo Productions company after receiving pressure from his partners, Columbia Pictures and the Coca-Cola Co., to fire Jim and most of the other African American employees on his Indigo staff. In 1983, Richard did an interview with The Bulletin Newspaper and strongly denied those allegations, stating that neither Coca-Cola, nor Columbia Pictures had anything to do with his decisions and that it was just business…nothing personal..

In the end, Jim’s and Richard’s relationship was allegedly very strained.

It would’ve been great if the two of them had been able to remain close and gotten Indigo Productions off of the ground because during that time, Richard’s company was the only Black-owned production company with a deal as large as his. They could have made a lot of noise in the movie game together, without compromising their characters, nor the art in the process.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

Richard Pryor openly admitted to being with a transgender woman…and after you see the details within this article, you’ll probably have a better understanding about all of this.

Richard Pryor Proudly Admitted Dating A Transgender

Richard Pryor was not shy at all about revealing the time he dated a man. “Pause and rewind that back,” you say? Aiight then: The legendary comedian, Richard Pryor Sr. said he tried a relationship with a transgendered man for about two weeks. Pryor stated that the transgender woman looked like Josephine Baker:

[Via NY Daily News] One night, “I discovered that she was actually a he. For some reason, I didn’t care.  … I never kept him a secret. My best friend for instance, knew I was f**king a dude, and a drop-dead gorgeous one at that. I even admitted doing something different was exciting. But after two weeks of being gay, enough was enough and I went back to life as a heterosexual.” – Richard Pryor

Jaw dropping, ain’t it?!! But wait…there’s more…

Richard Pryor Jr a.k.a. “Ivanna Schtup” Speaks On Being A Gay Part-Time Drag Queen

Meet Richard Pryor Jr., who’s a splitting image of his Pops. Richard Jr. is also an actor, singer, comedian…and yes, he’s gay and proud of it. There are a lot of similarities between he and his Dad. In an interview with Feast of Fun, this is what Richard Jr. had to say about the how his parents handled him confessing to them that he was gay:

Richard Pryor Jr.: Dad [comedian, Richard Pryor] took it well, but Mom freaked out. She was like, ‘Oh, where did I go wrong?!!’ She thought that it was her fault. I expected it to be the other way around. You always think that people don’t know, but then you tell them and they’re like ‘Well, I already knew.'”

So, are you saying that your Dad already knew you were gay?
Pryor Jr.: “Oh God…how could he not know? One time I had picked up these two hitchhikers and my Mom caught them in the house when I wasn’t there…they were naked and when I got home my Mom called and said “Richard Jr. your Dad wants to speak to you!” Then my Dad just outright asked me, “Are you gay?” and I basically just cried & lied my way out of that one…LOL. This was before I came out, but he knew. I came out and then went back in [got married], and then came out again.”

On dressing in drag as his alter ego, “Ivanna Schtup”:

Pryor Jr.: “To me it’s performing…anything you do as far as being in front of people…it’s performing, it’s acting. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. it was never a thing for me like: ‘I wanna be a woman, you know. It was just the thing of me performing and just releasing a lot of things that were inside of me out as far as performance and being very theatrical.”

Habits Richard Pryor Jr. Said He Learned Directly From His Dad

Do you have fond childhood memories?
Pryor Jr.: 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?
Pryor Jr.: 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?
Pryor Jr.: 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.

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

Richard Pryor Jr. seems to have innately inherited and/or learned his father’s ability to live in his truths. That’s never a bad trait to have. Salute to the late Richard Pryor and his son for being bold enough to share their authentic selves with the world.

The late comic icon, Richard Pryor, and NFL icon-turned actor, Jim Brown, were best friends for many years. However, many say Pryor did his best friend dirty after he landed a $40 million deal; while Richard said it wasn’t personal, just business.

They shared a bond that seemed unbreakable. In his infamous 1982 stand-up film, Live On The Sunset Strip, Richard credited Jim with getting him off of drugs. He also said Brown helped him pull through his painful recovery after his 1980 free-basing accident that caused Pryor to set himself on fire and sustain third degree burns. 

In the early ’80s, Richard Pryor appointed Jim Brown as the president of his then-new Indigo Productions Company after inking a $40 million deal with Columbia Pictures and the Coca-Cola Co.. But then something suddenly changed…something that left Jim confused, the NAACP pissed off, and many accusing Pryor of betraying his friend due to ‘Hollywood politics.’

According to Jim Brown’s autobiography, Out of Bounds, there were a few things that began to tear a riff into their friendship:

“I learned a lot about drugs through Richard Pryor. Although I didn’t indulge, when Richard was hitting the pipe, he never came by and rarely called. I’d drive to Richard’s house and we’d talk for hours, I would try to convince him to enter the hospital but he was not a man to push.”

After Richard’s free-basing accident, Jim said the relationship between Richard and his family became far more strained, and he also didn’t trust the women in his life. Pryor thought they were after his money:

“How could a motherf***er like me get these fine bit**es? They don’t really love me. They want my money,” Jim claims Pryor told him.

Pryor’s family asked Jim for Pryor’s safe combination, but Richard asked Jim to tell them “no”, says Brown…this is where it got ugly:

“Richard was so weak, he could barely write. His family called me again and said they needed $25,000 to pay bills. I had to talk Richard into writing a check. But his family came to resent me. I had refused to give them the combination to the safe.”

“Then it came apart. I had been the one the family had to go through for money and I made crucial decisions on his behalf. One day, Richard told his family that I had become like a father to him.”

One afternoon, Richard asked me to come by. When I arrived, his family hardly looked at me. Richard was upset, I asked him, what’s up? He said, ‘Well, look, I don’t think I really need you anymore. I think my family can take care of everything.’ My mouth fell slightly open, when I regained my composure, I said okay and left.”

And that was how it all fell apart. Afterwards, the NAACP and many in the public, alleged that Pryor fired Brown from the president position of his Indigo Productions company after receiving pressure from his partners, Columbia Pictures and the Coca-Cola Co., to fire Jim and most of the other African American employees on his Indigo staff. In 1983, Richard did an interview with The Bulletin Newspaper and strongly denied those allegations, stating that neither Coca-Cola, nor Columbia Pictures had anything to do with his decisions and that it was just business…nothing personal..

In the end, Jim’s and Richard’s relationship was allegedly very strained.

It would’ve been great if the two of them had been able to remain close and gotten Indigo Productions off of the ground because during that time, Richard’s company was the only Black-owned production company with a deal as large as his. They could have made a lot of noise in the movie game together, without compromising their characters, nor the art in the process.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

A documentary titled, “I Am Richard Pryor,” debuted on Paramount Network a while back. It is billed as a celebration of “the life and career of the iconic comedian who lifted himself out of poverty to achieve worldwide success.”

The documentary features many clips from Pryor’s comedy specials and acting roles, but the film also dug deep into his upbringing. His past in Peoria, Illinois, which Pryor would only begin discussing openly later in his life, was addressed.

I remember the candid words of Richard Pryor many years ago, in regards to his relationship with a transgender…but more importantly, the details regarding his childhood.

Richard Pryor openly admitted to being with a transgender woman…and after you see the details within this article, you’ll probably have a better understanding about who he was.

Richard Pryor Proudly Admitted Dating A Transgender

The iconic comedian, Richard Pryor Sr. said he tried a relationship with a transgendered man for about two weeks. He said:

“I never kept him a secret. My best friend for instance, knew I was f**king a dude, and a drop-dead gorgeous one at that. I even admitted doing something different was exciting. But after two weeks of being gay, enough was enough and I went back to life as a heterosexual.”

Pryor’s Childhood Sexual Trauma Revealed

 

Check out what Richard said happened to him as a child (via NY Daily News):

Richard talked about being molested as a boy. He recalled telling his family how a priest had kissed him on the lips, and how his dad and uncle plotted to blackmail the priest by encouraging young Richard to flirt with the reverend on the phone. Pryor’s grandma put an end to that charade. But there was an earlier incident, one where an older man named Hoss forced Richard to have oral sex with him in an alley. “I told no one,” writes Pryor. “Ever.

“Years later, when the superstar went back to Peoria to make “Jo Jo Dancer Your Life Is Calling,” the man showed up at Pryor’s movie trailer with his son. “I was seized by that old sense of fear,” Pryor writes. “The boy was about the same age I’d been when his father raped me. . . . I couldn’t believe it. After preparing a lifetime for this moment, I suddenly had nothing to say.

“Pryor adds that he shook both their hands: “I hoped the boy fared better.

The abuse hardly turned Pryor off sex. Instead, he came to know countless women. Many were hookers. One was a transvestite who looked like Josephine Baker. One night, “I discovered that she was actually a he. For some reason, I didn’t care. . . . But after two weeks of being gay . . . I went back to life as a heterosexual.”

Richard Pryor’s Son Speaks On Being A Gay Part-Time Drag Queen

Meet Richard Pryor Jr., as you can see he is a splitting image of his pops, he’s an actor, singer, comedian, and yes, he says he’s gay and proud of it. There are a lot of similarities between he and his Dad. In an interview with Feast of Fun, this is what Richard Jr. had to say about the how his parents handled him confessing to them that he was gay:

Dad took it well, but Mom freaked out. She was like “Oh where did I go wrong?!!” She thought that it was her fault. I expected it to be the other way around. You always think that people don’t know, but then you tell them and they’re like “Well I already knew.”

So are you saying that your Dad already knew you were gay?
Oh God…how could he not know? One time I had picked up these two hitchhikers and my Mom caught them in the house when I wasn’t there…they were naked and when I got home my Mom called and said “Richard Jr. your Dad wants to speak to you!” Then my Dad just outright asked me, “Are you gay?” and I basically just cried & lied my way out of that one…LOL. This was before I came out, but he knew. I came out and then went back in [got married], and then came out again.

On dressing in drag as his alter ego, “Ivanna Schtup”:

To me it’s performing…anything you do as far as being in front of people…it’s performing, it’s acting. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. it was never a thing for me like: ‘I wanna be a woman, you know. It was just the thing of me performing and just releasing a lot of things that were inside of me out as far as performance and being very theatrical.

We, at ILoveOldSchoolMusic, like to study the behavioral patterns of the greats of our past. By doing so, we’ll often find that there’s a message and ultimately, a lesson to be learned from the great ones.  Respect to the late, great Richard Pryor; and also to his son, Richard Jr., for sharing their truths with the world.

The iconic Richard Pryor, as we all know, lived through quite the dramatic life, ALL his life- from childhood until into adulthood. The circumstances he revealed about how his dad died at the age of 57 is just as dramatic and equally bizarre.

Richard Pryor often discussed what it was like being raised in a brothel that his grandmother owned and his mother worked in as a prostitute. Then there was his father, Leroy Pryor, who was his Momma’s pimp and employed several other prostitutes at that same brothel young Richard Pryor called home. Well needless to say, Richard Pryor’s father died in just as shocking of a manner in which he lived. Pryor explained what exactly happened at the time of his dad’s death…

RICHARD PRYOR’S DAD DIED DURING A SEX ACT

Pryor revealed how his father died at the age of 57:

“I’d like to die like my father died,” he says. “My father died fucking…he DID! My father was 57 when he died. The woman was 18. My father came and went at the same time. […] I just figured God must’ve loved my Father an awful lot to let him go out like THAT.” – Richard Pryor Yep you read that right, Pryor’s dad sadly passed away in the middle of sexual intercourse and Pryor actually turned his pain into laughter when he incorporated his father’s death into his timeless stand-up concert in 1992, “Live In Concert.”

Like we said earlier, the late great Richard Pryor lived quite a dramatic life and from the look of it, his beloved parents did the same. May they all continue to rest peacefully.

Many of us, old schoolers, remember actress, Rain Pryor, from her tenure on the ’80s/’90s sitcom, Head of the Class. She’s also Richard Pryor’s daughter and loved her pops unconditionally. Her dad headlines all over the internet, after Quincy Jones claimed, in his prior interview, that Pryor had sex with the late actor, Marlon Brando. Soon after Jones’ reveal, Pryor’s widow, Jennifer Pryor, also publicly confirmed Quincy’s claim; stating she knew her husband and Brando had hooked up, but it didn’t bother her, because she sees it as a non-factor.

However, the way Rain Pryor sees it…it’s a major factor. Once that social media firestorm occurred for many people who never knew Richard Pryor was openly bisexual, Rain stepped up to slam damn near everyone. Without naming names, she took to social media to go off – indirectly – on Quincy Jones; her stepmother, Jennifer Pryor; and all media outlets that reported on Quincy’s and Jennifer’s interviews (we’re assuming that included us).

**FYI: As we have previously reported, Richard Pryor was never ashamed of his bisexuality. In fact, he’s written about it and discussed it publicly. He also never hid the transgender woman he was dating back in the day.**

Rain Pryor’s Statement About Dad’s Bisexual Revelations

Rain – who was a child at the time – admitted that she knew the transgender woman her dad dated, but she believes that Quincy and her stepmom are lying about Marlon Brando. Read her statement below:

“My dad was very open with his life, so much so that news of his relationship with a trans women in the early 70s and 80s wasn’t really newsworthy nor notable. As a child I knew her, not as the trans person in our home, but the lady whom everyone accepted. So much acceptance I did not know she was Trans until recently.

There were no murmurs, nor was it tabloid news or execution by public opinion. It was just another day in our lives. It was just another identity I can assess our father was trying to navigate and process. It’s funny how during a time of huge inequality, it would have seem to matter more, and , now it’s sensationalized news, but the characters are wrong, and it’s all done to elevate the egos of sad empty people who’s money is proving it doesn’t buy happiness. However, Daddy did NOT have relations with Brando. There were no trips to his South Pacific Oasis, no flowers or love notes between. Not even a film role.

Why this sudden need to drag Daddy through the Hollywood mud? I find it tasteless and infuriating. At least get the details right, but of course we live in the age of faux news is real unless we disagree for our own agendas, and people need to stay relevant by dishing dirt.

As one of his children, I should not have to defend my brilliant and bruised father to anyone. I should be commenting on his genius comedy and the fact that he not only wrote, directed and produced … he had an office at Columbia Pictures and was once one of the Richest men. I should be sharing prolific anecdotes because he was an activist and so brutally honest. But instead I am sharing much vulnerability with some mean spirited gossip rag readers who believe anyone with money and fame. Bottom line. This man Richard Pryor, is not your Hollyweird scandal performance. He is our Daddy. He is our perfect imperfection. He is our legacy and we are most certainly his. So get a life and focus back on what’s really going on in the world. -Rain Pryor

Questions & The Obvious

Listen, we get it. Although Richard Pryor proudly spoke publicly about his bisexuality, it’s understandable why Rain would want to protect her father. However, if Rain just admitted she did not know that her father’s girlfriend was a man at that time, isn’t it a possibility that Quincy Jones and Pryor’s wife knew more about that part of his sex life than she would have back then? Not saying it’s true, but it’s highly possible, given that adults don’t typically discuss their sex lives with their minor children…but rather, with their peers.

It seems that Richard Pryor had a non-apologetic, self-assured awareness about himself that allowed him to fully embrace who he is,  regardless of what the external world thought of him. That type of vulnerable authenticity is something that we, here at ILOSM, respect about him. Rain Pryor has a lot to be proud of in her iconic daddy.

Richard Pryor openly admitted to being with a transgender woman…and after you see the details within this article, you’ll probably have a better understanding about all of this.

Richard Pryor Proudly Admitted Dating A Transgender

Richard Pryor was not shy at all about revealing the time he dated a man. “Pause and rewind that back,” you say? Aiight then: The legendary comedian, Richard Pryor Sr. said he tried a relationship with a transgendered man for about two weeks. Pryor stated that the transgender woman looked like Josephine Baker:

[Via NY Daily News] One night, “I discovered that she was actually a he. For some reason, I didn’t care.  … I never kept him a secret. My best friend for instance, knew I was f**king a dude, and a drop-dead gorgeous one at that. I even admitted doing something different was exciting. But after two weeks of being gay, enough was enough and I went back to life as a heterosexual.” – Richard Pryor

Jaw dropping, ain’t it?!! But wait…there’s more…

Richard Pryor Jr a.k.a. “Ivanna Schtup” Speaks On Being A Gay Part-Time Drag Queen

Meet Richard Pryor Jr., who’s a splitting image of his Pops. Richard Jr. is also an actor, singer, comedian…and yes, he’s gay and proud of it. There are a lot of similarities between he and his Dad. In an interview with Feast of Fun, this is what Richard Jr. had to say about the how his parents handled him confessing to them that he was gay:

Richard Pryor Jr.: Dad [comedian, Richard Pryor] took it well, but Mom freaked out. She was like, ‘Oh, where did I go wrong?!!’ She thought that it was her fault. I expected it to be the other way around. You always think that people don’t know, but then you tell them and they’re like ‘Well, I already knew.'”

So, are you saying that your Dad already knew you were gay?
Pryor Jr.: “Oh God…how could he not know? One time I had picked up these two hitchhikers and my Mom caught them in the house when I wasn’t there…they were naked and when I got home my Mom called and said “Richard Jr. your Dad wants to speak to you!” Then my Dad just outright asked me, “Are you gay?” and I basically just cried & lied my way out of that one…LOL. This was before I came out, but he knew. I came out and then went back in [got married], and then came out again.”

On dressing in drag as his alter ego, “Ivanna Schtup”:

Pryor Jr.: “To me it’s performing…anything you do as far as being in front of people…it’s performing, it’s acting. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. it was never a thing for me like: ‘I wanna be a woman, you know. It was just the thing of me performing and just releasing a lot of things that were inside of me out as far as performance and being very theatrical.”

Habits Richard Pryor Jr. Said He Learned Directly From His Dad

Do you have fond childhood memories?
Pryor Jr.: 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?
Pryor Jr.: 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?
Pryor Jr.: 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.

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

Richard Pryor Jr. seems to have innately inherited and/or learned his father’s ability to live in his truths. That’s never a bad trait to have. Salute to the late Richard Pryor and his son for being bold enough to share their authentic selves with the world.

We all know that the late, great Richard Pryor was a wild dude back in the day and this story is just going to prove yet again, just how wild he really was. Years ago, Pointer Sister singer, Anita Pointer, and her then boyfriend/NFL player, Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, decided to stop by their friend, Pryor’s house and boy did they get the shock of their lives! According to Thomas, Richard surprised him and Anita with a homemade porn movie of himself with two women. Here is what Thomas revealed about that day in his book, Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty:

“Anita and I took a limo to Richard Pryor’s house.

The butler was circulating with a platter of cocaine. Frankie Crocker was sitting beside me. Pryor went into the kitchen and came out with a plate of barbecue sauce and chicken. He took a chicken leg, dipped it deep in the sauce and stuck it in his hair. Then he smeared it all in his face, under his chin and near his ears.

A few minutes later, a movie screen came down in the living room. The lights dimmed. Up on the screen was Richard Pryor with an erection. An Oriental girl, a white girl and a black girl were catering to his every need. One girl would work him for a while and his eyes looked like they were going to explode. Another would take her best shot and he would give his. They were doing some real freaky stuff. It was wild, Richard was nuts!”

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Apparently, Anita Pointer wasn’t offended by Richard’s home porn fiasco and took it all in stride. After reading what Thomas said about that day, I must admit that I’m glad Richard didn’t have the Pointer Sisters’ song playing in teh background of his porn movie. Last thing Anita probably wanted to see/hear was them singing, “I want a man with a slow hand, I want a lover with an easy touch,” playing in Pryor’s home sex video, while three ladies were giving him ‘easy touches with their slow hands.’

Here are a few fun facts about Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson…

“Hollywood” Henderson won the lottery…TWICE. In 2000 he won the $28 million dollar lottery in Texas. Soon after winning those $28M’s, he won a $20K lottery. Thomas also reportedly confessed that he’d spent approximately $20K on lottery tickets prior to winning his two big ones.

After winning Super Bowl XII in 1977, battling cocaine and crack cocaine addiction, serving eight months in drug rehab, as well as 28 months in prison in the 80’s, Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson once again made headlines, except that time it was positive news and he was $28 million richer…although he said he had to break bread with his ex-wife.

Thankfully, “Hollywood” has been clean ever since the day he got busted in November of 1983 and hit with gun, drugs, and assault charges. Today he gives back through his motivational speaking at prisons, at his anti-gun seminars, and various other venues.

The late comic icon, Richard Pryor, and NFL icon-turned actor, Jim Brown, were best friends for many years. However, many say Pryor did his best friend dirty after he landed a $40 million deal; while Richard said it wasn’t personal, just business.

They shared a bond that seemed unbreakable. In his infamous 1982 stand-up film, Live On The Sunset Strip, Richard credited Jim with getting him off of drugs. He also said Brown helped him pull through his painful recovery after his 1980 free-basing accident that caused Pryor to set himself on fire and sustain third degree burns. 

In the early ’80s, Richard Pryor appointed Jim Brown as the president of his then-new Indigo Productions Company after inking a $40 million deal with Columbia Pictures and the Coca-Cola Co.. But then something suddenly changed…something that left Jim confused, the NAACP pissed off, and many accusing Pryor of betraying his friend due to ‘Hollywood politics.’

According to Jim Brown’s autobiography, Out of Bounds, there were a few things that began to tear a riff into their friendship:

“I learned a lot about drugs through Richard Pryor. Although I didn’t indulge, when Richard was hitting the pipe, he never came by and rarely called. I’d drive to Richard’s house and we’d talk for hours, I would try to convince him to enter the hospital but he was not a man to push.”

After Richard’s free-basing accident, Jim said the relationship between Richard and his family became far more strained, and he also didn’t trust the women in his life. Pryor thought they were after his money:

“How could a motherf***er like me get these fine bit**es? They don’t really love me. They want my money,” Jim claims Pryor told him.

Pryor’s family asked Jim for Pryor’s safe combination, but Richard asked Jim to tell them “no”, says Brown…this is where it got ugly:

“Richard was so weak, he could barely write. His family called me again and said they needed $25,000 to pay bills. I had to talk Richard into writing a check. But his family came to resent me. I had refused to give them the combination to the safe.”

“Then it came apart. I had been the one the family had to go through for money and I made crucial decisions on his behalf. One day, Richard told his family that I had become like a father to him.”

One afternoon, Richard asked me to come by. When I arrived, his family hardly looked at me. Richard was upset, I asked him, what’s up? He said, ‘Well, look, I don’t think I really need you anymore. I think my family can take care of everything.’ My mouth fell slightly open, when I regained my composure, I said okay and left.”

And that was how it all fell apart. Afterwards, the NAACP and many in the public, alleged that Pryor fired Brown from the president position of his Indigo Productions company after receiving pressure from his partners, Columbia Pictures and the Coca-Cola Co., to fire Jim and most of the other African American employees on his Indigo staff. In 1983, Richard did an interview with The Bulletin Newspaper and strongly denied those allegations, stating that neither Coca-Cola, nor Columbia Pictures had anything to do with his decisions and that it was just business…nothing personal..

In the end, Jim’s and Richard’s relationship was allegedly very strained.

It would’ve been great if the two of them had been able to remain close and gotten Indigo Productions off of the ground because during that time, Richard’s company was the only Black-owned production company with a deal as large as his. They could have made a lot of noise in the movie game together, without compromising their characters, nor the art in the process.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view