‘Frasier’ Star Opens Up About Vicious Childhood Bullying: ‘Even the Teachers Could Be Malicious’

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The cast of Frasier

Best known for her role as Daphne Moon on 1990s TV hit “Frasier,” Janes Leeves is opening up her life in a new memoir, the recently published “Daphne & Me: My Life on Frasier (And a Bit More).”

While promoting the book, Leeves dropped by the “Dinner’s On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson” podcast, hosted by former “Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

‘A Tough Time’ with Bullies

Discussing her memoir, Leeves recalled some painful childhood memories that left her traumatized.

“I had a really tough time as a kid with the bullies,” she said.

“I went to an all-girls school and it was very Hogwartsy, you know, and even the teachers could be malicious, and I had a teacher hurl an ashtray at me,” she shared.

“And then I ducked and she went, ‘Don’t duck,’” Leeves continued.

“I was at a school of the arts, a ballet school. I started out as a dancer. And I was just like … I mean, she just tortured me, this teacher,” Leeves said.

“I and everyone was standing around the class [and the teacher said], ‘We’re not leaving until Reeves — she called me ‘Reeves’ — until she can do two pirouettes on pointe.’ And I — oh, my feet were bleeding and everything — and at the end she, you know, she just got so frustrated she picked up her ashtray and threw it at me,” she remembered.

She Nearly Lost Her ‘Frasier’ Role to Another Star

During a recent appearance on the “Still Hot in Cleveland” podcast, Leeves recalled how she came to be cast in “Frasier.”

Because the sitcom was a spinoff of “Cheers,” an established hit, competition was fierce to land a coveted role on what promised to be a surefire smash.

“My agent said to me, ‘There’s some interest in you for this spinoff from Cheers,” Leeves said, explaining she was also in the midst of auditioning for two other shows.

“And I loved ‘Cheers,‘ so I was like, ‘Well, I’m not taking these two shows. I want to read for that,’” she recalled.

“So, it was sort of rushed because they said, ‘Well, you have to see her now if you’re interested because she’s got these two other offers,’” the actress continued.

However, when she arrived at the audition she encountered future “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon, who was also up for the part.

According to Leeves, her audition went so well that she was invited for another — this one to read with Frasier himself, Kelsey Grammer.

“The next day I went in and I remember sitting on the steps outside, and this red Corvette came flying in and out jumped this beach boy-looking guy, and I [was like], ‘Oh my god, It’s Kelsey Grammer,’” she said, noting that the actor “looked nothing” like the buttoned-up shrink he’d played on “Cheers,” showing up wearing a pair of flip-flops.

There was, however, one big problem to overcome — the fact that she was British.

“He didn’t want an English girl,” Leeves said. “He thought it would be ‘Nanny and the Professor.’ He didn’t want their influence.”

However, after they’d ran lines, Grammer “ran off in his Corvette” before producers told her she had the role. “It was extraordinary,” Leeves marveled.