Chelsea Handler: Brother’s death made family closer

Chelsea Handler thinks her brother’s death was a "beautiful gift".

The 40-year-old talk show host was just nine when her eldest sibling Chet, who was in his early 20s, passed away after he fell off a cliff in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and though the whole family was distraught by the tragedy, it ultimately brought them closer together.

Chelsea – the youngest of six siblings – told People and Entertainment Weekly interviewer Jess Cagle: "Seeing your parents fall apart is really rough. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.

"As hard as it was for me or for my brothers or sisters – [how did it feel] for my parents to have your own child in danger in that way? And then you can’t protect them and you couldn’t save them?

"In hindsight it really kept us as a tight-knit group, because it was so tragic and awful. Ultimately, it was kind of a beautiful gift because we all value each other so much."

Though she was only a child when Chet passed away, she has fond memories of trying to "look after" her oldest brother after college.

She recalled: "I was, like, seven or eight, and he would come home and I would make him cereal when he would come home late from school, from college, and I would put it in a bowl and act like I made him dinner, and look after him.

"He would always come upstairs to my mom’s bedroom and be like, ‘Where is she? Where is she?’ I would be under the bed and he’d grab me and he’d drag me down the stairs while I was kicking and screaming. We played that game all the time."

And the former ‘Chelsea Lately’ host loved being the youngest in the family as all her siblings always included her in what they were doing.

She said: "They took care of me. They took me everywhere, and I was a little rascal. They’d go to their high school parties and bring me because I had this attitude. I was their little entertainment wind-up doll."