Looking back, he blames his addiction on low self-esteem, but he also indicates that his drug and alcohol abuse may have been a response to the dual losses of his father, whom [KELSEY GRAMMER] barely knew, and his sister, to whom Kelsey was extremely devoted.

On April 22, 1968, Grammer's father, Allen Grammer, was fatally shot on St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands. Kelsey had been born on the island on Feb. 21, 1955, but his parents separated before he was two years old and he, his mother and his sister moved to New Jersey and then to Florida. Kelsey saw his father only twice after that.

Today, Grammer says he's exorcised his demons. "In the end, the tortured Kelsey Grammer - that guy doesn't really exist," he says. "Kelsey Grammer has been tortured, but not to the point where it ever really extinguished my joy. The Kelsey Grammer that people might not really know about is the one that is ecstatic to be alive everyday."