Amy Schumer used childhood comedy skills to make sick father laugh

Amy Schumer honed her comedy skills as a child by cheering up her family as her father battled multiple sclerosis.

The Trainwreck star was just 12 when her dad, Gordon, was diagnosed with the disabling disease, which affects the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and Amy felt it was her duty to keep her loved ones' spirits up by making them laugh.

"He was in physical pain," she recalls during a candid interview with U.S. broadcaster Barbara Walters. "That's when I kind of took the lead and took care of everybody in my family... I would keep everybody laughing. I'm the one who ties it all together."
The 34-year-old actress admits her dad's ongoing health crisis has put a damper on her Hollywood rise, because for all her success, there's little she can do to ease her father's pain.

"He's not good," the Golden Globe-nominated star confesses. "Some days he's really good and he's with it and we're joking around. And some days I go to visit my dad and it's so painful. I can't believe it."

The interview is due to air as part of Barbara's 10 Most Fascinating People annual special, which airs in the U.S. on Thursday (17Dec15).

Amy incorporated her personal struggles into the storyline for Trainwreck, in which her onscreen father, played by Colin Quinn, suffers from the illness.

"There is no denying that there is a lot of me in this movie," she previously explained as she promoted the comedy at the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, in March (15). "I, as they say, went there. It's really personal. It's about stuff I was struggling with and am constantly battling."