Mon 12 Oct 2015 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
American actor Jack Black has opened up about the heartbreak of loosing his brother to an HIV-related illness. During an interview with Parade Magazine discussing his new film Goosebumps, he spoke of the loss of his brother Howard in 1989, who died of an HIV related illness. “I have two gay siblings: my big sister, Rachel, and my big brother, Howard,” he told Parade. “He was a big influence on me. He took me to my first rock concert. I was 11; he was 23. He was so vibrant, creative, amazing. He shaped my taste in music. [Death] didn’t happen quickly. We all saw the deterioration. He was only 31. So very young. We were robbed of something precious. It was devastating. It was hard for all of us, but it was hardest for my mom when we lost Howard. She’s never really recovered.” A difficult time in his childhood, he also spoke of the struggles he went through following his parents divorce and spoke of his substance abuse at age 14. “I remember just lots of turmoil from that time period,” he said. “I was having a lot of troubles with cocaine . . . I was hanging out with some pretty rough characters. I was scared to go to school [because] one of them wanted to kill me. I wanted to get out of there.” Black plays a fictionalised version of R.L. Stine, writer of the popular children's book horror series Goosebumps, in the soon to be released film.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 12th October 2015 - 9:20am