Comedienne Sarah Silverman inadvertently helped Louis C.K.'s daughter "understand" her conflicted emotions about her father's sexual misconduct scandal by sharing her own struggles on TV.
The American Hustle star had been among Sarah's circle of close friends for more than 25 years before a New York Times expose was published last November (17), accusing him of exposing himself and masturbating in front of a number of women in the entertainment industry.
Louis subsequently confessed the claims were all true and expressed remorse for his behaviour, as he announced he would be taking a step back from the limelight.
Sarah broke her silence about the controversy days later, using the opening segment of her new talk show I Love You, America to address the claims, admitting she was still trying to come to terms with the allegations and how that would affect their friendship.
"It's a real mind f**k, you know, because I love Louis. But Louis did these things," she explained. "Both of those statements are true, so I just keep asking myself, 'Can you love someone who did bad things? Can you still love them?'"
Silverman has since revealed Louis reached out to her after the show debuted on streaming service Hulu to share how her comments had helped one of his girls process her emotions about the fall out.
"After I did that (monologue), he called me," Sarah said at a Paley Center for Media chat in Los Angeles. "And he said it really helped one of his daughters to understand. She showed it to him and she said, 'I can love you even though you did bad things.' And we cried. It was a small silver lining in a very bleak story."
Married father-of-two Louis has since taken steps to relaunch his comedy career with a pair of impromptu stand-up gigs in his home state of New York in late August (18), but the shows have divided fans, and Silverman can see why, especially as he failed to mention anything about the misconduct allegations.
"I think he wronged people and my guess is he thought he could sneak onstage and try a few minutes," she said of his unplanned sets. "I understand the backlash of it."
