Chris Farley's Brother Remembers the Comedian 28 Years After His Tragic Death: 'He Was Peter Pan' (Exclusive)
- - Chris Farley's Brother Remembers the Comedian 28 Years After His Tragic Death: 'He Was Peter Pan' (Exclusive)
Virginia ChamleeDecember 18, 2025 at 9:02 PM
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Chris Farley -
Twenty-eight years after Chris Farley’s death, his brother Tom Farley is remembering the comedian's carefree zest for life
Speaking to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview, Tom shared memories of his prankster brother
Now a community outreach director for Recovery.com, Tom will co-host a live virtual Fireside Chat, on navigating the holidays in recovery on Dec. 18, 2025, to coincide with the anniversary
Twenty-eight years after his brother Chris Farley’s, life came to a tragic end, Tom Farley is remembering the comedian's carefree zest for life — and his deep faith.
"People come up to me all the time and say, 'Oh, I miss your brother.' It's like, yeah, they miss the celebrity, they miss the laughter — as I do. But I want them to miss the brother I miss," Tom tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview of Chris, who was discovered dead in his Chicago apartment from an apparent drug overdose on Dec. 18, 1997, at age 33.
Tom — who is the community outreach director for Recovery.com and the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Chris Farley Show — will co-host a live virtual Fireside Chat, “Navigating the Holidays in Recovery" on Dec. 18, 2025, to coincide with the anniversary.
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All these years later, Tom remembers Chris as the annoying younger brother with whom he once shared a bed — and a life-long comedian who often played family pranks.
"Here was this guy that was known for his characters — and yet, if you look at every one of Chris's characters, it was Chris," Tom says with a laugh. "Every time he showed up in a skit on SNL, I'm like, 'Oh he used to do that in front of our aunts and uncles.'"
Tom recounts a childhood trip to Disney Land with he, Chris, their three other siblings, and their parents.
"I think I was a freshman in high school, Chris must have been in 7th grade," Tom says, adding, "We were in some winding ride through a dark tunnel, in these kind of clamshell-shaped cars. Chris and I were in one and my mom and dad were like five cars back. And we got bored, and Chris goes, 'Let's scare Dad ... Let's get out.'"
Farley Family Archives
the Farley family
He continues: "And as soon as he said it, he was out. Out of the car on the side of the ride. And I followed him, and we stood there like statues in the dark. And then we heard my dad's voice — this booming, baritone voice coming closer and closer, and we just both realized this was the dumbest idea we ever had. And we panicked."
"And as soon as we saw there was an empty cart in front of my parents, we made a mad dash for it. And my dad goes, 'Oh my God, what was that?' We scared the pants off him, and then for the rest of the ride, all we heard was, 'You boys are in so much trouble.' And I go, 'Chris, we got six seconds when this ride stops to get out. We ran into to the crowd to try and blend in and we spent the rest of the day riding the monorail around Disney World like 20 times."
The story is indicative of Chris' nature: a Wisconsin-born prankster who landed a spot in Chicago’s Second City Theater in 1987 and was picked up by Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night Live in 1990.
The comedian continued on SNL for the next five years, debuting legendary characters, including motivational speaker Matt Foley, a wannabe Chippendales dancer and Cindy, one of the Gap girls. Though he was fired from the sketch comedy show in 1995 (along with his close friend Adam Sandler), Farley found success on the big screen, appearing in Tommy Boy and Beverly Hills Ninja.
Farley Family Archives
the Farleys at Christmas
As Chris' celebrity skyrocketed, so too did his addiction issues — with his brother explaining to PEOPLE that the issue was one that ran in the family.
"As the oldest brother of this very competitive family, you know, my father went to Georgetown, so I had to go to Georgetown," Tom says. "I went to Georgetown and I did all this work to curate this, this persona — and then, and then I became, on top of that, somebody's brother. Like, 'Oh, you're this guy's brother.' It all piled on."
As a result, Tom says he "pushed people away" — until recovery forced him to confront his authentic self.
"When I started just embracing what I could control and trying to be that authentic person, something amazing happened," Tom tells PEOPLE. "People started coming back to me, you know, that connection I've always wanted showed up."
Chris too confronted his own addiction issues, seeking recovery with more than a dozen stints in rehab and a three-year stretch of sobriety before he relapsed again in 1995.
And while well-known for his larger-than-life physical presence and personality, Tom says Chris was, at his core, a man of faith and humility — and one with a child-like sensibility.
"First of all, he had more faith than anyone — like he was always going to church," Tom says, adding a memory from their college years that serves as an illustration of the man behind the celebrity: "We were camp counselors in college, and just to watch Chris ... you know, I was there for the camp counselors at the girls' camp across the lake. Chris, however, was there for the kids. He was like the Pied Piper, just leading these kids on these adventures. He was Peter Pan. He was great."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
