AT the grand old age of 70 most men are settling down and enjoying retirement, not knee deep in nappies after welcoming their EIGHTH child.
But nothing about Frasier actor Kelsey Grammer’s life has ever followed a normal playbook – even up to his fourth wife demanding five weddings.
He weathered three failed marriages – one was physically abusive, another sexless and the other ended after just 12 months – prior to falling for Virgin Atlantic air stewardess Kayte Walsh.
The daughter of Bristol City footballer Alan Walsh and 24 years his junior, she tamed the “wild man of American comedy”, who had long battled drug and alcohol addiction.
She gave him the one thing he was missing – cosy domesticity – after endless family heartache including his sister being raped and murdered, two half brothers dying in a freak accident and his estranged dad being gunned down when he was just 13.
The couple already had a brood of three – Faith, 13, Gabriel, 10, and Auden James, eight – prior to Kelsey announcing “we’ve just had our fourth” on yesterday’s episode of Pod Meets World.
New arrival Christopher, born on Friday, takes the actor’s baby tally to eight with four different mums.
And a source told the Mail he’s “thrilled to finally have time to fully enjoy being a father all over again… [and] embracing the hands-on parenting he missed in the past”.
There’s no doubt Kayte put an end to Kelsey’s turbulent years in the wilderness, which were plagued with tragedy, heartache and more faux pas than his pompous, gaffe-prone character Dr Frasier Crane.
Yet their romance got off to a bumpy start – as the actor was still married to ex-Playboy pin-up and future Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille Meyer.
Kelsey would later claim his third-wife only “married me because I was Frasier”. At his peak, he raked in more than £1million per episode for the show, which ran for 11 seasons.
He also described their marriage, which spanned 14 years until 2011, as being “so broken” that they “had not had sex in a decade” and claimed she asked for a divorce the day of his mother’s funeral in 2008.
For a long time Kelsey knew the relationship was on the rocks, admitting it was “over as soon as it began” yet he stayed with her as a “self-imposed sentence”, mainly out of stubbornness and for the sake of their two children, Mason, 24, and Jude, 21.
He met Kayte in 2009 as she showed him to his seat on a Virgin Atlantic Upper Class flight from Los Angeles to London, where he was due to appear in a play.
She claimed it was “love at first sight” – dismissing the much-joked about claim of cabin crew being on the “lookout” for wealthy suitors – and noticed “this golden glow around him”.
They chatted about music, England and life at the plane’s bar before he slipped her his number and told her the hotel he was staying at.
Kayte was “blown away by how lovely he was” but uncertain and “indecisive” about whether to call him.
She told the Mail: “I said, ‘God, if I’m meant to call him, I want a sign.’ I looked out the bus window and saw a sign reading, ‘Frasier Suites’. I was like, ‘OK, that’s not enough.’
I was her big brother, I was supposed to protect her – I could not. I have never gotten over it… It very nearly destroyed me
Kelsey Grammer
“Four minutes later, we passed an art store called Crane and a few moments later, we drove past the hotel where he was staying.”
Secret mistress
Two days later they went for a coffee, where he confided he was “in a situation he wasn’t happy in and I needed to be patient”. She claimed they spent months only kissing and holding hands.
It wasn’t long before Camille discovered Kelsey’s mistress. Allegedly when she arrived at the couple’s New York apartment to be told by the doorman ‘Mrs Grammer’ was already inside.
Fire and fury followed. The former Playboy bunny claimed she was dumped by text, sniped about his bedroom skill and made another lurid claim he liked to dress in women’s clothes.
At the time Kelsey responded: “Never been a cross-dresser but I have been very sexually adventurous. I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done in the bedroom.”
He considered the slings to be “pathetic” attempts to remain famous – yet as a “parting gift” to give her a new direction, he helped to secure her a spot on Real Housewives and even appeared in a single episode.
The couple married just 15 days after Kelsey’s £30million divorce from Camille was finalised in February 2011. It followed a stern demand before Kayte accepted his proposal.
She recalled: “Because he’s been married so many times before I said, ‘You have to marry me more times.’ I’m his fourth wife, so I said, ‘You have to marry me at least five times.’”
Lavish nuptials followed – the first was New York, followed by an Elvis officiated Viva Las Vegas do, another at their LA home and the final, an especially romantic service in Giverny, France.
The last was inspired by Kayte’s favourite artwork Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Lilies. He took her to the bridge the painter used, got down on one knee and proposed.
She recalled: “It was a complete shock. Kelsey had arranged everything with the Mayor so we got to say our vows in French. It was lovely.”
Serial killer slayed sister
The romance with Kayte has undoubtedly given Kelsey the peace and stability he has lacked throughout his turbulent life.
He was born to parents Sally, a dancer, and Allen, a coffee shop owner, in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, but raised in New Jersey by his mum after they divorced when he was two.
At the age of 12, his grandad died of cancer and the following year his estranged dad was murdered during a wave of racial violence after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.
Seven years later, his younger sister Karen, 18, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serial killer Freddie Glenn, who killed three women.
Glenn, now 68, who Kelsey remarkably forgave many later years, was sentenced to die in the gas chamber only for the death penalty to be scrapped.
“I was her big brother, I was supposed to protect her – I could not,” he said at the murderer’s 2009 parole hearing. “I have never gotten over it… It very nearly destroyed me.”
And just five years after losing Karen, two of his half-brothers were killed in a freak scuba diving accident.
Unsurprisingly, that amount of trauma caused unbridled chaos in his personal life – with him stating they were “the catalyst that got me into a really big problem for at least the next 15 years”.
‘Chaos, insanity, mayhem’
He consistently battled cocaine and alcohol abuse – especially while filming Frasier and Cheers – and was known for being difficult to work with, one colleague described him as “one of the biggest jerks” he had ever met.
Kelsey was described as “oozing” onto set with “glazed over eyes, half asleep, going through whatever he was going through” yet when the director yelled ‘Action’, he was “pitch perfect”.
Because he’s been married so many times before I said, ‘You have to marry me more times’…You have to marry me at least five times
Kayte Grammer
He was regularly in trouble with the law too. Kelsey was charged at least four times for crimes including cocaine possession, drink driving and violating parole conditions.
The crimes, which spanned 1988 to 1996, resulted in 30 days jail time, more than 300 hours of community service, 90-day house arrest, fines in the thousands and a 30-day court mandated rehab stint.
His relationships weren’t going well either. Kelsey’s first marriage to dance instructor Doreen Alderman lasted eight years until 1990, despite their relationship being over after less than 12 months. They share a daughter Spencer.
Two years later Kelsey had a second child, Greer, who later appeared on MTV show Awkward, with make-up stylist Barrie Buckner.
He married former stripper Leigh-Anne Csuhany, who was three months pregnant, seven months after that. But their romance wouldn’t last.
Kelsey filed for an annulment and evicted her from his home, alleging she was physically abusive to him.
He claimed she once fired a gun at him and even on their wedding day, he was seen sporting a black eye from one of her violent attacks.
In his autobiography, Kelsey claimed she convinced him he was “nothing, unattractive, untalented, undeserving of love and incapable of being loved by anyone but her” to ensure he would never leave.
“She’d spit in my face, slap me, punch me, kick me, break glasses over my head, break windows, tear up pictures of my loved ones, threaten to kill me or herself,” he wrote.
Shortly after the split, Leigh-Anne tried to kill herself. She suffered a miscarriage.
Kelsey had a string of short-lived flings after, including with Playboy model Tammi Alexander, before his third marriage to fellow top-shelf mag pin-up Camille.
Five weddings
Ultimately, it has been with Kayte where he has finally found happiness. But that contentment could have easily been derailed due to the tragedies they have faced as a couple.
Two of their pregnancies ended in miscarriage and Faith’s unborn sibling died in utero. Heartbreakingly, this often requires a mum to undergo labour to birth the deceased child.
Kayte admitted it was “devastating” for them but the blows further strengthened their relationship. Each baby has reminded them “life is a miracle” and to count their blessings.
There was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.
Kelsey Grammer
His ever expanding brood has also given him a second chance at parenting, after admitting he took his eye off the ball with the older kids.
He said: “I have neglected a couple of the kids in my life, especially the first two,” he said. “I’m trying to make up for a little of it now. I’m still their dad, so you can always have [a] chance to show up.”
With a stable, loving home Kelsey’s addiction issues appear to have been kept at bay – despite in 2016 admitting he stopped attending AA because he likes to “enjoy a drink”.
It’s known he was sober for years after his 1996 car crash while under the influence, which resulted in him being sent to rehab by the courts.
Previously, Kelsey’s calling toward “chaos, insanity, mayhem” was spurred on by “running away from uncomfortable feelings” and being unable to “forgive myself” for his sister’s death.
He acknowledges having “a self-destructive part of me” that encouraged his addiction, which worsened his health and contributed to a near-fatal heart attack in 2008.
Kelsey added: “I always had something in the back of my head saying, ‘Okay. That’s enough now. Cut it out. You know why you’re doing this.’
“But there was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.’”
But now thanks to Kayte, he lives a calmer life – when not changing nappies at 5am – and previously she said their “favourite place is our sofa”.
There they snuggle up, eat popcorn while watching films and eventually fall asleep in each other’s arms. It’s a far cry from the decades of debauchery before.
Kayte says: “As a general rule I try to operate from love. I always wanted to find a family and the love of my life. That was my dream. I feel blessed.”
No doubt Kelsey feels it’s he who has been blessed, after finding the woman who saved his life and drastically changed his future for the better.