Additional Coverage:
- Leonard Nimoy’s Son Says He Knows the Reason Behind Feud With ‘Star Trek’ Costar William Shatner (newsbreak.com)
In a recent interaction with Page Six on June 2, Adam Nimoy, son of the revered “Star Trek” legend Leonard Nimoy, hinted he knows the underlying reasons behind the infamous rift between his father and William Shatner, yet opted to keep the details under wraps. Adam prefers to “let sleeping dogs lie,” especially since his father, Leonard, passed away in 2015 at 83. Describing Leonard’s relationship with Shatner, who is now 93 and famously played Captain Kirk opposite Leonard’s Spock in “Star Trek: The Original Series,” Adam expressed it was “very challenging,” though there were times “they were really beautiful together” during the show’s original broadcast from 1966 to 1969.
Growing up, Adam and his sister Julie Nimoy were familiar with tales of their father and Shatner’s clashes on set which made Leonard referring to Shatner as his “best friend” in his memoirs quite surprising and somewhat puzzling to them. Despite moments of reconciliation, their relationship couldn’t maintain its harmony.
Adam himself is no stranger to complicated familial dynamics, having penned a book titled “The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father” about his turbulent relationship with Leonard and their eventual reconciliation before the latter’s death. This book has been published by Chicago Review Press.
On the other hand, Shatner has publicly claimed to be unaware of the precise cause of their falling out. In his 2016 book, “Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man,” Shatner shared that Leonard ceased all communication with him for the last five years of Leonard’s life. Shatner initially thought Leonard was jesting, only to realize the gravity of the situation later.
Alongside clarifying the complexity of their on-set relationship for “Star Trek,” Shatner acknowledged to The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 that conflicts are never solely one person’s fault. Moreover, Leonard’s disputes weren’t limited to Shatner; George Takei, who portrayed Lieutenant Sulu, has also shared his grievances, labeling Shatner a “cantankerous old man” and criticizing his behavior as self-centered during their “Star Trek” tenure in a November 2022 People interview.