Kathy Griffin Makes Rare Comments About Late 'Pedophile' Brother, Says She'd Call Police 'Once a Week'

In a recent video shared to her YouTube channel, the comedian opened up about her family's struggles with her late brother, Kenneth, after mourning the death of the Reiners, whose 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, is suspected of killing them. (Nick -- who has long battled substance abuse throughout his life, and has reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia -- has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.)

Griffin, 65, recalled her late brother Kenneth's disturbing past, including allegations of abuse, describing her brother -- who died in 2001 -- "as a wife-beating pedophile."

"I'm going to open up to you about something now that I haven't really talked about since my first book," she said, referencing her memoir Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, which was released in 2009, "and when I talked about it, the rest of my family was very, very upset with me."

Griffin noted that she's the youngest of five children, sharing that her fans likely know her late parents, John and Maggie, as they were featured on her Bravo series, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.

"Well, my eldest brother, Kenneth -- who is now dead, thank God -- he was a crack addict, he lived on the streets, was extremely violent," she continued. "[He] probably had an undiagnosed mental illness that obviously did not go well with crack cocaine."

"I can just tell you it was heartbreaking watching my parents try to save him his whole life. I think the problem started with my brother -- from their telling, to me -- when he was in his teen years," Griffin explained. "My mom would get emotional and cry and say, 'When he was a kid, we never could have seen this coming. He was a happy kid. Where did this come from?"

She added, "I will tell you that I remember from the age of 10, his first wife telling me and me alone, that he beat her so badly that it was almost inconceivable."

According to Griffin, Kenneth's ex-wife once told her that he would "beat her and then push her out of their apartment naked, and she would be locked out of their apartment, where there was a courtyard, beaten and naked."

She went on to claim that Kenneth's "longtime girlfriend," like his ex-wife, "confessed" to her that Kenneth was "violent," before alleging a horrific claim about her late brother.

"His girlfriend told me that he was molesting one boy and one girl that she knew of," Griffin said. "So for all the ways that the Trumpers used the word 'pedo' and all the stuff that we have learned about Jeffrey Epstein, let me tell you something, having your oldest brother be a pedophile is something that you don’t ever grow out of."

"You don’t get over it," she continued. "I wanted to kill him because all I could think about were those children. And the expression, 'blood is thicker than water,' was not true in my case. I didn't give a f--k that he was my older brother. And I did not want to protect him."

Griffin detailed a few alleged violent incidents involving her brother after noting that she went "years" "in and out of separation" from her family because she "would never face or deal with my eldest brother, Kenneth, again without just laying into him," adding that her family "did not want to acknowledge that Kenneth was abusive."

She went on, "I wouldn't have holidays [with my family] if Kenneth was going to be there. We used to have two Christmases at our house, and it’s because of me. But I just said, 'I'm not going to sit in a room with Kenneth once a year and act like he’s not a wife-beating pedophile.'"

The Emmy winner claimed that she called the Los Angeles Police Department "repeatedly" about her brother allegedly abusing children.

"F--k the 'blood is thicker than water.' These are kids," she said.

However, Griffin said the LAPD "would never do anything about it," claiming that she suggested the police do a "door knock," but they allegedly refused and said "the only way [they] could do that is if one of the kids themselves comes forward."

"These are children. ... You can’t expect them to think like adults," she noted.

Despite this, Griffin said she continued to report her brother to the police.

"I was calling, like, once a week on my own brother, and they wouldn't do anything," she said.

The former Bravo star stressed that she doesn't want to "hear anything about how Rob Reiner should have had security" in his home, where his son also lived, because she "watched my parents do everything from try to act like my brother was wrongly accused, to admitting it but not knowing what to do, to being convinced it was only [because of] the crack that he was on, as opposed to other issues as well."

According to Griffin, her family's struggles came to a head when her father "finally confronted" Kenneth after she decided not to spend Christmas with her family because her brother was going to be there.

"My dad called Kenneth and said, 'You know why Kathleen isn't coming to Christmas? It's because she really thinks you are a child molester,'" she recalled. "And do you know what my brother Kenneth's response was? 'I do what I do.'"

Griffin shared a clip from her YouTube video about her brother on her Instagram, captioning the Reel, "I ended up discussing some things on my YouTube show this week that I did not think I would ever discuss. What can I tell you? Life happens. I’m extremely grateful and relieved at the positive response the episode is receiving."

Fans took to the comments to applaud Griffin for speaking out about such a difficult topic.

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911. 

The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline -- 800.656.HOPE (4673) -- provides free, 24/7 support for those in need.

Domestic Abuse: If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages; Calls are confidential and toll-free.