Marlon Wayans lost nearly 60 loved ones in three years.
The comedian explained that it felt “biblical” to have to deal with the deaths of so many close ones in a relatively short space of time.
“I lost 58 people that I loved in a matter of three years,” he told The New York Times. “It felt, like, biblical. I think as a comedian, I’m getting to the good stuff! When you talk about real-life pain, like parents passing, and you can get through that set … can still be irreverent, edgy, crazy, silly, thought-provoking and vulnerable, I think that’s growth.”
Amongst those who passed away was Wayans‘s father Howell, who died at 86 in April 2023, almost three years on from the death of his mother, who died at 83 in 2020.
The Scary Movie star — who admitted he had been able to “rescue [himself] from depression with his upcoming Prime Video special “Good Grief” — noted that while he “misses” his parents dearly, he now feels like a “man” without them and explained that his mother was the reason he has never married.
“I miss my parents dearly, but I’m a different human with my parents gone than I was when they were here,” Wayans said. “Now I’m a man. I don’t have parents anymore, so I live differently. I understand the quality of life.”
“I pray more because when I pray I feel like I’m speaking to my parents and that they’re listening,” he continued in the interview. “I let them know what’s going on.”
“I never got married, because I never wanted my mother to be jealous of a woman. I never wanted my mother to feel second to any woman,” Wayans said.
