Trump: 'I Wouldn't Be Here Today' If Not For 5 Words My Brother Told Me Before Dying

Donald Trump opened up to CNN’s Anderson Cooper about a family tragedy involving his older brother that left him with an indelible life lesson.

Trump’s brother Freddy, who was eight years older than Donald, died in 1981 at 43 years of age from complications due to alcoholism.

Freddy Trump was the oldest son of Fred Trump, Sr., and heir apparent to the real estate mogul’s company. Freddy had no interest in the family business and, after a failed attempt working for his father, changed careers and became a pilot for Trans World Airlines.

The second son, Donald, ended up joining with his father, and taking the business to new heights.

Donald said Freddy, who he looked up to, gave him some advice which the 69-year-old has heeded his entire life. “Don’t you dare ever drink,” he said.

The New York Times reports that Freddy became an alcoholic by his mid-twenties, which ended up costing him his career as a pilot, and then his family and ultimately his life.

.@realDonaldTrump gets personal about his brother’s addiction to alcohol https://t.co/2v0Hn0heND https://t.co/UPEbiw7pwA

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) February 5, 2016

“He was a great guy. He was the most handsome guy. He had the best personality,” Trump told Anderson Cooper. “He was the life of the party. He was a great pilot.”

Trump said that his brother just could not stop drinking and it was “devastating,” which is why the businessman decided he would never start.

“That is why I don’t drink. I don’t smoke cigarettes. I don’t take drugs. Those are the three good things. I won’t tell you the bad things,” he said on a more lighthearted note.

The candidate said he has passed on the same advice to his kids.

“I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you today, if we didn’t have my brother Fred, because he kept me off alcohol,” Trump said. “Maybe with my kind of personality, I’d be a serious alcoholic. I just don’t know. But I never had a glass of alcohol in my life, because my brother said, ‘Don’t you dare.'”

An October poll in New Hampshire found that a quarter of voters listed drug addiction as the most important issue to them, topping even jobs and the economy. Deaths from drug overdoses in the state have spiked in recent years.

Candidates Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, and Jeb Bush have shared personal stories about how drug addiction has impacted their families and loved ones.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.