There’s a tendency to think child abuse happens only behind closed doors, hidden by deception or manipulation. Otherwise, surely, someone would put a stop to it. But what comedian Paul Scheer endured wasn’t secret. It was out in the open.
When he was three, his parents divorced. Then along came Hunter, his mother’s violent second husband. Hunter threatened Scheer’s life so many times––with his fists, with a pitchfork––that Scheer doesn’t remember when the abuse began. Hunter often told Scheer that if he didn’t put away his clothes or wash the dishes, he’d be sent to jail, where he’d be raped. He was eight. Growing up on Long Island, Sheer eventually started fighting bullies at school, pummeling them with the same intensity he received at home.
