House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., says he ignored Father’s Day for most of his life.
“I ignored it for much of my life,” said Ryan, whose father was an alcoholic who died when the future speaker was a teenager.
“I actually, in a weird way, didn’t know what date it was,” he said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I ignored it and pushed knowledge of the date out of my mind for many, many years,” he said.
Host Chuck Todd, who posed the question, also lost his father when he was young.
Ryan said it wasn’t until he had his own kids that he started recognizing Father’s Day. “I don’t know, it’s a defense mechanism or something,” Ryan said.
