Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., admitted Friday there were times when she was in fear of her life as a young girl because of her father's opioid addiction and his gun collection.
Dingell told CNN's "New Day" co-host Alisyn Camerota that her father had violent episodes during her youth in Michigan.
"One of the things that I've always said, my father shouldn't have had access to a gun. That's what happened," said Dingell, whose husband John Dingell retired from Congress in 2014, after which she took over his seat upon winning the election.
"It's hard for me still to talk about, but I more than once had to hide in the closet with my siblings when my father was out of control and had a gun. One night I literally kept him from killing my mother."
Dingell, who was born in 1953, noted that her father David Insley was addicted to opioids in a time when no one knew what that meant.
"I've been honest, he had an opioid drug problem, prescription drug problem, before anybody knew what it was. There's been some pretty dramatic nights," she said.
"He shouldn't have had a gun."
Dingell has shared her story in the past, which is relevant in the age of the opioid epidemic and the gun violence problem sweeping across America.
Last fall, she also accused a "prominent, historical" person in Congress of sexually harassing and assaulting her in 1982 when her husband was serving.
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