Amy Schumer Opens Up About Father’s MS

Since gaining popularity, Amy Schumer has been very open about a myriad of issues. Now, she’s opening up about her father’s diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and how it has affected the relationships she has with people.

In an interview with CBS, Schumer told Mo Rocca that her dad shaped her sense of humor, which has brought her strength in the face of adversity. “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.”

Schumer’s father was diagnosed with MS when she was 12-years-old, which left her family bankrupt after being secure for years. She moved to Long Island with her family and later on her parents divorced. She said that her coping mechanism was humor.

“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, and I want to, like, experience all I can and make as many memories as I can.'”

She continued, “It affects your relationships for sure. Everybody I meet and I’m like, ‘Yeah, he’s cool, but would, like, would I push him in a wheelchair? You know, would I want him to push me?’ So, yeah, I go there pretty quick. Other people are like, ‘Should we go to Hawaii on vacation?’ I’m like, ‘Do I want you to change my colostomy bag?’ It just changes your perspective.”

Multiple Sclerosis is an immune disease that breaks away the protection covering viable nerves all over the body. Areas that are affected are the brain and spinal cord which makes it and in some cases leads to immobility.

Even though Schumer’s father has been living with an incurable disease, Amy says that he’s “just as hilarious.” Her father lives in assisted living and she said, “and when I go see him, it’s not heavy. He’s happy. They got Comedy Central for him at his hospital so they can watch my show.”

Keeping humorous has lead to success for Schumer. Soon she’ll be starring in her first Rom Com called Trainwreck, which hits theaters on July 17. The film stars Schumer alongside Bill Hader, and co-stars Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, John Cena, Tilda Swinton, and Lebron James.

You can read the synopsis below.

“Since she was a little girl, it’s been drilled into Amy’s (Schumer) head by her rascal of a dad (Colin Quinn) that monogamy isn’t realistic. Now a magazine writer, Amy lives by that credo—enjoying what she feels is an uninhibited life free from stifling, boring romantic commitment—but in actuality, she’s kind of in a rut. When she finds herself starting to fall for the subject of the new article she’s writing, a charming and successful sports doctor named Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), Amy starts to wonder if other grown-ups, including this guy who really seems to like her, might be on to something.”

It should be noted that Amy wrote the film as well.

[Photo by Jemal Countess / Getty Images]