Darrell Hammond says he was abused as child

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. actor and comedian Darrell Hammond says he was brutally and systematically abused by his mother as a child.

Hammond, 56, perhaps best known for "Saturday Night Live" performances as Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Sean Connery, said the abuse he underwent as a child led to self-mutilation and stays in psychiatric wards as an adult, CNN reported Wednesday

"I was a victim of systematic and lengthy brutality," he told CNN. "My mom did some things which have cost me dearly." Hammond appeared on CNN to promote his new book, "God If You're Not Up There, I'm F-ked," in which he writes about being an alcoholic drug addict.

On the back jacket of the memoir, which comes out in early November, Hammond said he gives the SNL crew "props" for having to work with him, Entertainment Weekly reported.

"Over the years, the medication I was on included: Depacote, Lamictal, Zyprexa, Abilify, Zoloft, Ativan, Triavil, and Klonopin. I was drinking, doing coke, cutting myself in my dressing room. I was repeatedly shipped off to rehab or a psychiatric unit, and once taken out of the SNL offices in a straight-jacket. But somehow, perhaps because I'm my father's son after all, I was able to soldier on and perform. That is, until I wasn't."