Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe was one of the guests at The Roast of Kevin Hart, where he traded shots at Sheryl Underwood. Hinchcliffe, 41, mimicked the former CBS host before adding:
“Her husband committed suicide 3 years into the marriage. I’ve been sitting next to her for 2 hours and I have to ask how did he last that long?”
Many netizens have criticized the Kill Tony podcast host for this joke, claiming it was in poor taste. Meanwhile, Sheryl Underwood appeared to take it in good spirits.
For those unaware, Sheryl Underwood was married to chef Michael Sparkman from 1987 to 1990, until he took his own life.
Underwood, 62, never remarried. She also never had any children due to a difficult childhood and other traumatic experiences.
Here’s everything Sheryl Underwood said about her late husband over the years
Sheryl Underwood remained silent about her husband’s suicide for decades. However, she opened up in 2016 and shared that she dated Michael Sparkman for seven years before tying the knot. In addition, The Talk host claimed that he suffered from clinical depression and had previously overdosed.
Underwood sat down with PEOPLE and recalled the final moments with her late husband.
“I made him a German chocolate cake that morning, and I said, ‘Drop the bills in the mailbox and I’ll see you when you get home.’ It’s the most painful thing in the world because he is not coming back.”
In October 2020, Sheryl Underwood paid tribute on her daytime talk show to designer Kate Spade and chef, author, and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain, both of whom died by apparent suicides. She further mentioned:
“I’m kind of emotional about this because, as you know, my husband killed himself. And you will never know. For people who think they know, you’ll never know if it’s clinical depression. You’ll never know if it’s financial stress. You’ll never know.”
The Daytime Emmy winner extended her condolences to Spade’s teenage daughter, Frances Beatrix, stating:
“I’m sad for her daughter for that to be in the note because my husband left a note. And what the note does to the person who’s still alive, it shows that the person who’s no longer alive has now had the final word… And that pain does not…it doesn’t go away. So, I really hope that the family can come together for her daughter because it just doesn’t go away.”
Elsewhere, Sheryl Underwood urged people to seek help if and when they thought about self-harm, as well as to the loved ones of those who were gone.
Her husband’s suicide wasn’t the only tragedy in Underwood’s life. Her twin sister had an untimely death during childbirth. Her other sister, Frankie, suffers from polio and Sheryl is her primary caregiver.
Elsewhere, she once said during a NewsOne episode how her mother Joyce Evelyn tried to turn her against her father Cleo by falsely claiming he had fatally suffocated her twin sister. Later, the father-daughter duo reconciled but had to undergo the trauma of his being stabbed by Joyce.
Sheryl Underwood responded to Tony Hinchcliffe during her set on Kevin Hart’s Netflix roast. She said that while Tony attempted to “hurt my feelings” by joking about her “dead husband,” he “died once,” while Hinchcliffe died “every night with those wack-a** jokes” he cracks.
Edited by Pallavi K