Sheryl Underwood was the final cohost on The Talk to reveal her secret on Friday, Sept. 13, and hers was a doozy. The usually lighthearted comedienne looked somber as she began her story, recounting one especially painful childhood memory.
"You know, people ask comedians, 'Where does the funny come from?' and for me, it comes from my desire to never have anyone feel what I felt through my childhood and certain periods of my life," she began slowly, already blinking back tears. "So I try to make everyone laugh and everyone happy."
"I was born a twin, and we were premature," she explained. "We were both in the incubator. What you don't know is I carry her birth certificate around because she did not live."
As proof, Underwood then showed the audience the certificate, which featured the inky imprints of two tiny feet.
Underwood, 49, explained that the death haunted her throughout her childhood, especially since her birth mother used it to drive a wedge between her and her father.
"My birth mother did not want me and my father to be close to each other, so she would tell me that my father killed my sister," she said slowly, adding that her mother had suggested that he had "propped a bottle up for her to take," and that she had asphyxiated.
Underwood's cohosts and the audience gasped audibly at this revelation, but the comedienne wasn't done.
"For years — and I love my father — but I did not get very close to him until one day, I saw my mother stab my father," she said with watery eyes. "A lot of people have domestic violence in their families, a lot of people witness a lot of things, so to get through that, I started to engage my sister, my twin, as my guardian angel."
Earlier this week, the other ladies of The Talk one by one shared their own meaningful stories, including Julie Chen's reveal that she had gotten plastic surgery to "look less Chinese."
"No one's more proud of being Chinese than I am," she said during Wednesday's episode. Sara Gilbert, meanwhile, revealed that she realized she was gay while dating Roseanne costar Johnny Galecki.
"When I talk about my sexuality on the show or in public, I still feel really scared," she admitted, her voice breaking. "So I'll try to act confident or I'll make jokes about it, but there's still a piece of me that goes, 'Well, what is this costing me in career?'"
