Alan Cumming to Appear on CBS SUNDAY MORNING Today

Actor-writer-director Alan Cumming has few memories of his childhood – the result of a troubled household, he tells Serena Altschul in a wide-ranging interview to be broadcast on CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood.

His father was violent, while his mother overly praised him, and so as he grows older he feels like he's recapturing his past with a newfound playfulness, he tells Altschul.

"I think, in a funny sort of way, I had to grow up," he says. "I had my life backwards, in a way. I mean, I think a lot of people have this kind of quality. And as they grow older it gets more muted, and with me, it's kind of the opposite way."

Cumming, a star on the hit CBS series THE GOOD WIFE, tells Altschul that because of his father's behavior, he has few memories of growing up in Scotland. "It's really weird," he says. "It's because I didn't want to make them memories because it was so painful." Cumming adds, "Well, I had my father telling me I was worthless and my mom told me I was precious. And so, you know, I didn't believe either of them."

Theater classes gave him a way out, he says. He's parlayed that early experience into a career that spans Broadway, TV and theatrical films. He's also been open about his life, he tells Altschul. Cumming is now married to Grant Shaffer, a graphic artist.

He says when people think of him they associate an easiness and openness, someone unafraid to talk frankly about his life. "I think that people connect to that and I think they like me for that," he says. "It's been a good thing for me to be as open as I have been – and to be out in that way."

Altschul's interview with Cumming will be broadcast today, Dec. 2, 2012 on CBS SUNDAY MORNING (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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