How Pete Davidson Brought His Real-Life Trauma to New Flick
Gone but not forgotten.
On the 21st anniversary of 9/11, Pete Davidson‘s sister Casey Davidson shared an emotional tribute to their dad Scott Davidson, who lost his life in the terrorist attacks.
“This year more then ever I wish you could be here,” she wrote on Instagram Sept. 11, along with a black-and-white photograph of her wearing Scott’s firefighter uniform. “We miss you, we celebrate you and we remember you every day. Proud to be your caseygirl.”
The 33-year was one of the many first responders killed in the line of duty on that fateful day back in 2001. Casey was just 3 years old at the time of her dad’s death, while Pete was 7.
The Saturday Night Live alum was profoundly affected by the loss, telling the The New York Times in 2019 the tragedy was “overwhelming” and that he ended up acting out in school as a result of the trauma.
Pete, 28, later turned his pain into a passion project, writing and starring in his film The King Of Staten Island, which is a semi-autobiographical story that follows his journey of dealing with the death of his father.
Instagram / Amy Davidson
Speaking to E! News in June 2020, Pete shared that he wanted to take an honest approach when telling his story.
“It’s pretty transparent as I could be,” he told E! News. “We really wanted to follow this family and tragedy and how it affected them. And we wanted to show how you could overcome tragedy through life experiences.”
Recognizing how therapeutic The King of Staten Island was for him, Pete reflected on the filming experience, saying it helped process his emotions.
“I think when you’re able to share a story like this at this magnitude and with so many people, it really allowed me to be as open and honest as I could be and it helped me deal with a lot of my personal demons. This was something, one of the goals for this film was to allow me to put my past behind me and I think we were able to do that.”
Mary Cybulski / Universal Pictures
That same month, Pete paid tribute to his dad during his virtual visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live, sharing that he had donated to Answer The Call and explained his family’s deep connection to the charity.
“Answer The Call is the fund that helped my family when my dad passed,” he told host Jimmy Kimmel in June 2020. “It helps for firefighters and EMS workers that passed away in the line of duty and it helps out their families.”
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