Colbert's family experienced a heartbreaking loss on Sept. 11, 1974, when his father, James, and two brothers, Peter and Paul, died in a plane crash in Charlotte, N.C.
Because his other siblings were either working or in college, Colbert—who is the youngest of 11—was left alone with his mother, Lorna. "The shades were down, and she wore a lot of black, and it was very quiet," he told Parade in 2007. "She was a daily communicant, and many times I was too. It was a constant search for healing. My mother gave that gift to all of us. I am so blessed to have been the child at home with her."
The tragedy weighed heavily on Colbert. As the comedian revealed on Oprah's Next Chapter, he didn't fully grieve the loss of his father and brothers until his freshman year of college. "I was in bad shape," he said, noting that he lost 50 pounds that year. "I got very sad about it."
It took a long time for Colbert to accept what had happened, but as he told GQ in 2015, "I'm not angry, I'm not. I learned to love...the thing that I most wish had not happened."
