Gov. Andrew Cuomo bared his soul to shock jock Howard Stern on Monday — and revealed a host of daddy issues involving his late father, three-term New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Cuomo described a tortured relationship that he blamed on his workaholic dad, who he said “did not have that emotional intimacy” with him during his childhood.
“I think early on there was a hurt — why didn’t he want to do things with me?” Cuomo said on Sirius XM’s “The Howard Stern Show.”
More than five years after Mario’s death at age 82, Cuomo said his memories of his father remained tinged with “sadness” that they weren’t closer.
Cuomo even pointed to his father’s aloofness as the reason he became his campaign manager at age 21.
“I think I went into politics to get to know him,” Cuomo said.
It’s unclear why Cuomo decided to unburden himself to Stern, who notably endorsed Republican George Pataki — primarily over the issue of the death penalty — to help deny Mario Cuomo a fourth term in the 1994 election.
Pataki repaid Stern’s support by giving the controversial radio host a seat of honor on stage during his gubernatorial inaugural celebration at Albany’s Knickerbocker Arena.
Cuomo said he’s tried to not make his dad’s mistakes in his relationships with his daughters, twins Mariah Kennedy Cuomo and Cara Kennedy-Cuomo, 25, and Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo, 23.
“I am so desirou☂s of an emotional connection with them and they’re like, ‘Get a job, Dad,’” he said.
In response to a question from Stern, Cuomo also admitted that his dad may have thought it was “gay” for men to “be loving” to each other — and said it was another trait he’d worked to overcome.
“Oh, I think — I think at least it was the custom, right? Men did not kiss men when I was growing up. Family gathering, you see a friend, or they saw a friend — nobody kissed,” he said.
“I kiss men all the time. I’m a kisser.”