Exclusive Video: Soap Star Thom Bierdz On When His Brother Killed Their Mom

LAKE ARROWHEAD, CA — Actor and painter Thom Bierdz has quite the story to tell.

In November 1989, as the Wisconsin native rode a peak of popularity in his breakout role as Phillip Chancellor III on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, Thom’s sister Hope called to report the unthinkable.

Troy Bierdz, the younger brother of Thom who had long suffered from schizophrenia, had attacked their mother Phyllis with a baseball bat. She was dead.

The horror occurred after years of Phyllis taking Troy to doctors who assured her that her troubled, misbehaving son — who kept journals about torturing animals, worshipping Satan, and longing to commit murder — was just “faking it.”

Suddenly, on that awful day in the kitchen of the Bierdz family’s home, Troy’s issues became all too undeniable — and permanently tragic.

Troy fled after killing Phyllis, but police picked him up shortly thereafter. He’s been incarcerated and heavily medicated ever since.

For the rest of the Bierdz family — as well as for Troy — life had to somehow go on. And it has.

Following an eruption of understandable anger and terror, the impact of what happened set Thom on a journey toward compassion and understanding that he chronicles in a powerfully moving memoir that took him 20 years to complete, Forgiving Troy.

Thom also elaborates about the case in "The Soap Star’s Secret,” an especially compelling episode of the Investigation Discovery series Evil Lives Here.

When CrimeFeed reached out to Thom for an interview regarding his appearance on <em>Evil Lives Here,</em> he not only agreed, he responded by creating an original video of his own, exclusively for our site. In the video, Thom combines his answers to our questions with a self-styled mini-documentary.

He speaks openly and engagingly about his brother, their mom, living as a gay man in both Wisconsin and Hollywood, and his career transition from soap star to popular painter.

The video is a one-of-a-kind experience that brings extra insight into “The Soap Star’s Secret.” Watch it now and be amazed.

For more of Thom Beirdz's story, watch "The Soap Star's Secret" episode of Investigation Discovery's Evil Lives Here on ID GO now!

Read more: Thomas Bierdz – Official Site, “Forgiving Troy” by Thom Bierdz, KCBS, Huffington Post