New York anchor opens up about his troubled childhood, mother's mental illness in memoir, 'No Momma's Boy'.(HEALTH)
Jet - June 25, 2007
Margena A. Christian
Word count: 702.
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Laverne Carter thought she carried her secret to the grave in 2001. It was her son, Dominic Carter, one of New York's top political anchors, who would dig up the truth. She was a chronic paranoid schizophrenic.
Carter, host of NY1 News' nightly political show "Inside City Hall," recounts his troubled childhood of sexual and physical abuse from a mother he didn't learn was mentally ill until two years after her death when he was an adult in his memoirs No Momma's Boy (iUniverse, $23.95).
"I feel like 600 pounds has been lifted from my soul," said Carter. "I want people who have been abused to realize they are not alone. In the African-American community, we have this stigma with mental illness ... I want all of us to stop running and trying to hide the issue of mental illness. It is happening and we must deal with it."
Growing up, Carter often wondered why his mother was hospitalized for lengthy periods throughout his life. He also wondered why she sexually abused him at age 7.
Two years after her death, he started to report his toughest story-his own. After an aunt gave him background on his mother's past treatment for mental illness, he contacted a medical facility to get her psychiatric medical records. He received 620 pages.
"Those documents represented closure," Carter said. "My mother took many answers to the grave in terms of my situation. I never understood why she didn't tell me about how severe her mental illness was."
Carter, who is married and the father of two, leads a high-profile lifestyle, but he admits that he had been skillful at biding his troubled past from colleagues and even family members.
"I didn't know that history until the book," said Shanai Harris, Carter's niece, who is primary anchor for ABC Columbia in South Carolina. "I'm very proud that he's speaking up and speaking out. So many other people who have been subjected to what Dominic endured turned to drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, violence and just bad behavior. For him to rise above his situation is an inspiration to people."
As a reporter, Carter moderated Hillary Clinton's debate during her reelection campaign and made international news when she admitted for the first time that she was looking at running for president. During Nelson Mandela's historic 1990 trip to the U.S., Carter and Ted Koppell were the only two journalists in New York to sit down with him. He is also among only a handful of Blacks in Inner Circle, a group of the top 100 reporters in New York.
Today, Carter, a man once secretive about his abusive past, now freely shares his story with others. He recently served as grand marshal for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-NYC Metro's first-ever walkathon last month.
"I cannot tell you the power of personal stories, especially from people with celebrity," said Wendy Brennan, executive director of NAMI-NYC Metro. "There is so much stigma associated with mental illness. When someone of his stature talks about it, it makes people more willing to address it in their families."
Carter plans to continue to bring awareness to mental illness and abuse.
"She was once a nobody and voiceless, but her son has gone on to have a voice for millions," said Carter. "She took punches that very few people could take. I'm very proud of her. It was a troubled upbringing for me, but she never gave up. That's where I get my perseverance ... I didn't forgive my mother fully until after she passed away. What I tragically regret is that I didn't learn the extent of her illness until after her death. I forgive her to begin healing myself."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
* National Alliance on Mental Health (nami.org)
* National Institute on Mental Health (nimh.nih.gov)
* National Mental Health Information Center (mentalhealth.org)
* Mental Health America (nmha.org)
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Citation Details
Title: New York anchor opens up about his troubled childhood, mother's mental illness in memoir, 'No Momma's Boy'.(HEALTH)
Author: Margena A. Christian
Publication: Jet (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 25, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 111 Issue: 25 Page: 46(2)
