In a new cover story for AARP Magazine’s August/September issue, Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph opens up about one of the scariest moments of her life.
Looking back at 2013 when her son Etienne had been involved in separate incidents that changed both of their lives forever. She explained to the magazine,
“When Etienne was in college, he had a car accident and suffered a concussion. It changed his whole brain,” she explained. “Then he got mugged, and they shot him three times. He woke up in the hospital with two bullets in his leg and a wound in his forehead where a bullet had grazed him.” It was a moment that Ralph couldn’t come to terms with at the time. When she heard that her son had been shot, she “collapsed and dropped the phone.”
“I didn’t even listen to the rest. But they didn’t kill him, thank God,” the Emmy winner said. “Now he runs his own production company and nonprofit, WalkGoodLA, which is centered around healing, mental health, and overall well-being.”
In 2015, Etienne also opens up about his traumatizing experience with his followers on Instagram. In a lengthy post, he shared how grateful he is to not only be alive but to be living a sober life – no alcohol or drugs.
“Two years ago today I was robbed, beaten, and shot twice in my leg a week away from turning 22 years old. Picture this…I somehow get into a cab leaving a bar that was ironically called “Drinkers” at 1 am with the intent of going to another party close by…Next thing I know it’s 4 am and I am waking up in the ER at the UPenn Hospital with no clothes, no identification, no phone. Now what the f*** happened between the hours of 1 am and 4 am? The nurse told me as calmly as she could that I was shot twice in my leg deeeep in West Philly. At this point, I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone. SHOT? HOW? WHY ME?! Who would want to shoot me? I had all these questions. I searched every inch of my brain to figure out what events could have transpired for me to reach this point in my life. To this day I can’t figure it out. Which is why I don’t drink or smoke anymore.”
He went on to say at the time, “It’s safe to say I was belligerently “drunk and high at the same time.” Fast forward to today, I am 2 years sober, full of life, and ready to take on the world one day at a time. I still have nerve damage in my leg and will probably have it for a long time. Regardless, I’m happy to have my leg and able to run on it. I’m reminded every day that without God’s grace, I would not have made it to see 22, and yet would have joined the staggeringly high percentage of young black men losing their lives to gun violence every day. I’m alive! I want to thank my family, friends, Drexel faculty, doctors, nurses, detectives, and lawyers for their unwavering support in making sure that I was okay physically, mentally, and spiritually. I can’t thank you all enough for the hospital visits, prayers, and well wishes. What you see in this photo above is nothing other than God’s work. I stand before you humbled and grateful for every day I am able to wake up and thank God for the ability to walk this earth. And as for the father and son who robbed and shot me (yes you read that right), I forgive them. My mother might not, but I do. Yes, what they did was wrong, but Luke 23:34 says “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Amen.”
Elsewhere in her cover story, the 66-year-old actress who shares Etienne, 31, and her daughter Ivy-Victoria 28, with ex Eric Maurice, whom she divorced in 2001 — revealed that she always “knew I was going to be somebody’s mother.” She called her children “my greatest gift.”
“When I met their father, my first husband, I could see my children just as clearly as they are in life right now, and I said, ‘Oh, I know the assignment right here,’” she shared. “We got married and had our son, Etienne, and our daughter, Coco. The marriage lasted almost 10 years.” She added, “If I had a regret in life, it would be that I didn’t have more children. But I have two beautiful children,” PEOPLE quotes.