Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor Was 6 When She Met Dad Richard Pryor for First Time, and Kept His Identity Hidden from Students (Exclusive)

Angela AndaloroThu, July 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor (left), Richard PryorCredit: Isabella Dellolio Photography; Ron Galella Collection via Getty -

Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor delves into her personal and family history in her new memoir, Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me

Speaking with PEOPLE about sharing her story, the Smith College history professor, 59, explains why she wasn't always eager to tell PEOPLE that the late comedian was her father

In her professional life, she wouldn't offer the association, but today, she teaches classes that relate to her father's experience of being Black at a poignant time in American history

Richard Pryor's daughter is proud of diving into her family's history.

Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, 59, is the third of the late comedian's seven children, and was six years old when she met him for the first time at a hotel in New Jersey. However, at times she has remained guarded about her famous parentage. In a conversation with PEOPLE about her memoir, she explains why.

"It's who I was in my life. It was like my big reveal. Somebody might tell somebody that they grew up in a cult or whatever their big reveal that they reveal to people that are really close to them. Mine was that I was Richard Pryor's daughter," the Smith College history professor tells PEOPLE.

"Now in retrospect, probably people knew anyway and there were times that my colleagues would say things to me like, 'Well, like your father, right?' So I knew that they might know, but it was like, like there was a force field around it. I hadn't talked about it, probably since the fire."

Stordeur Pryor emphasizes, "It had nothing to do for me with shame about my father being Richard Pryor. I was proud of my father and I loved my father."

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Richard Pryor with daughter ElizabethCredit: Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor

Rather, she found that throughout her life, she "didn't like the world's questions" about her dad and their family.

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"I didn't want to expose myself. I didn't like the question that so many people asked me that it's like, 'Were you close? Did you really know him?' Those were questions that people have really asked me more than once. 'Which one is your mother?' was another one that was just like, 'Oh my God, who says that to people?'"

She continued, "So I think there was a sense of that, and I had just cultivated it my whole life and I almost didn't know how to... I didn't know how to talk about that with people."

Richard Pryor and daughter Elizabeth Stordeur PryorCredit: Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor

In the memoir, Stordeur Pryor looks back at her story, her father's story and his place in the history of comedy, the N-word and more. In diving into all things Richard Pryor, the Smith College history professor also reversed course on her previous decision to keep her personal and professional lives separate.

"I taught a new class this semester, 'Richard Pryor's America,' and it was amazing. So Smith College is a magical place, and in addition to teaching our bread and butter courses, you can also teach pretty much anything you want in your subject. I got this idea of teaching a course about my father and was surprised but not surprised that many of my students, including my African-American students, didn't really know who Richard Pryor was," she explained.

"They allowed the course to be messy and to bring them the material without context. I'm like, 'What do you mean you need context? It's a history class.' I was like, 'You guys already know this because it happened to me so you know it.' And they were like, 'No, we actually never lived in the '70s or '80s and we don't know any of this,' " she laughed.

"But it was really beautiful and I had them write family histories because part of the course was family history. And at the end they did research into their own families and linked it to my father and his work in ways that were so startling and surprising and exciting. I think he would've loved that, but it was really a joy to teach. I will definitely teach it again."

Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Meis now available, wherever books are sold.

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