Interviews with Strangers: Charlie Kelly

Forty-six year old Charlie Kelly is a survivor. He didn’t fight cancer or a childhood illness, nor did he fight for his life in a hospital bed after a life-threatening accident. Kelly’s fight started before his life began--he survived an abortion.

Kelly with his mother, Bonnie, on Christmas Day.

Kelly’s mother, Bonnie Kelly, speaks about the one-night stand she had with acquaintance Frank Reynolds.

“When I found out I was pregnant with Charlie, he forced me to get an abortion. But it didn’t take! We went to one of those clinics, one of those underground clinics. Then I had the procedure, and they told me he was dead. But then three months later, he popped out, happy as a clam!! He survived the abortion!”

Reynolds denies that he is the Father of Charlie. When confronted about their possible relation, Reynolds told Kelly, “Your mother is feedin’ you a line of crap! I mean, she probably went right from the clinic and banged some guy and got knocked up... because your mother was a giant whore.”

Pictured: Kelly (right) with probable-father Frank Reynolds in their apartment.

Surviving the abortion at six months didn’t come without problems. For one, Charlie didn’t have a father growing up. Left to be raised by a neurotic woman with extreme OCD, Charlie developed problems of his own. Growing up, he was molested by a close Uncle. Throughout the years, he developed an addiction to huffing glue and despite being in his late forties, still doesn’t know how to read.

Currently, Kelly works as a janitor for local bar Paddy’s Pub, owned by his close friends. He is roommates in a one-room apartment with the man suspected to be his father, Frank Reynolds. He has an overwhelming obsession with a local coffee-shop waitress, who says Kelly has been stalking her for years. He even went so far as to write and perform a musical for the city of Philadelphia, using the stage to propose to her at the end. She said no.

“You stalked me, there is something wrong with you. Your brain is broken! I hate you! I hope you die! I hope you go to hell!” She yelled at Kelly one day at the bar where he works.

It hasn’t been all bad, though. Despite his mostly sociopathic tendencies, Kelly does seem to truly care about his mom and friends. He has gone through extreme situations to help his friends out of trouble. He is very good at writing music and playing the piano, saying, “Oh man, keyboards just make sense to me. I get ‘em, you know?”

Kelly in a performance of his musical, Dayman

Maybe surprisingly, Kelly is pro-choice. When an old friend from high school approached him about possibly being the father of her child, Kelly said that he ‘wished he could go back in time and do the right thing,’ referring to making her get an abortion. To this day, Kelly believes Reynolds is his father, while Reynolds continues to deny it.