Appearing on the Conan O'Brien show on Wednesday night, talk show host Chelsea Handler started laughing at the most inopportune time. Judging by the somber look on O'Brien's face, the comedienne hadn't just cracked a joke. No, the unfortunate reason for her giggling was in remembrance of a child who was deprived the chance to live.
Asked to recollect her adolescence, Handler couldn't resist oversharing. Her rebellious lifestyle resulted in an unplanned pregnancy as a teenager, but apparently there was nothing to think twice about. That's when the laughing started. She tried to stop herself, admitting the subject wasn't funny. Yet she continued, trying to justify the humor of her abortion by saying her baby would've been biracial. [ video segment below the page break ]
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I was terrible, I was the worst kid you could ever imagine. I mean you know I got pregnant. I mean I was just a disaster. I was from New Jersey, so there wasn't a lot of options... So in real life, I would've had a 20-year-old or something -- but I don't [ laughter ]. Sorry that's not really funny. [ laughter ] I was just exercising. It's not funny at all, I don't know why I started laughing. I was just thinking about having a 20-year-old child who is half-black, half-white. That would not, that would've been fun. Because I was dating 50 Cent when I was in high school also. That's why.
This wasn't the first time Handler has brought up the touchy subject in an insensitive manner. In an interview with the New York Times last year, she discussed her frustration and disgust with all the deranged reality programming on television. Required viewing for her show on the E! Network. One in particular must've really struck a chord -- MTV's 16 & Pregnant. "Getting rewarded for being pregnant when you're a teenager? Are you serious? I mean, that makes me want to kill somebody," she said.
It appears she already has. Continuing, she was more than happy to open up about something that she hadn't even been asked about. "I had an abortion when I was 16. Because that's what I should have done. Otherwise I would now have a 20-year-old kid. Anyway, those are things that people shouldn't be dishonest about."
