Mad Men's Jon Hamm Reveals He Had "No Real Male Role Models," Was Raised by Single Mom

Star opens up about his younger years. "I spent the majority of my life in daycare, after school programs, summer school programs," he says

By Marc Malkin Sep 26, 2011 6:30 PMTags
Jon HammLeonard Adam/Getty Images

Jon Hamm is just too perfect.

Not only was he a high school teacher before he rocketed to fame as an actor, but you won't believe the job he had during college...

READ: Jon Hamm's Mad Men directorial debut

He worked at a daycare center!

Working with children and teens meant much more than a paycheck.

"I was a child of a single parent," Hamm said at yesterday's annual Rape Treatment Center benefit brunch in Beverly Hills. "I spent the majority of my life in daycare, after school programs, summer school programs."

Hamm said, "Having gone through what I had gone through as a child...there were no real male role models in any of these places. There were never any dudes.

"It was a bummer as a young man to, not only not have a father figure in my life, but no real male figures as teachers or as educators or as afterschool program leaders or anything," he said.

Hamm made the point to emphasize the importance of the Rape Treatment Center's educational outreach, especially for boys and young men. "It is an important thing to instill in a younger generation about the impact of rape, the lasting impact of rape," he said, adding, "Children from grade school to high school to college are incredibly susceptible and incredibly malleable, as we all know. To get them early, to teach them about the facts and figures and other realities of rape is key. It is an important issue to me as not only a man, but as an educator, as a human being and as a person on this planet."

The cast of Mad Men hosted yesterday's fundraiser, which attracted more than 900 people and took place at supermarket magnet Ron Burkle's Green Acres estate. Joining Hamm were Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser and Aaron Staton.

The cast recently visited the Rape Treatment Center and its children services program, Stuart House. "The statistics of how prevalent it is are shocking and the type of crimes you learn about are shocking," Hendricks said. "We all kind of know they're there, but if you know how often it happens, it's truly unreal."

For more information on the Rape Treatment Center, go to 911rape.org.