William Shatner Fires Back Over Leonard Nimoy ‘Star Trek’ Feud Allegations

William Shatner fired back at Leonard Nimoy’s son, Adam Nimoy, after he wrote about an alleged, long-rumored feud between the Star Trek stars in his new book, The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father, Leonard Nimoy, which hits shelves today. Nimoy died in 2015 at age 83 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Shatner, 93, issued an exclusive statement to The New York Post in which he called into question Adam Nimoy’s recollection of events, claiming the younger man “wasn’t around” during Star Trek’s production. “He didn’t know. He was too young to know my relationship with Leonard,” Shatner said.

In his book, Adam alleges: “Years later, when [Leonard Nimoy] was sober and being interviewed by no less than Bill Shatner, Dad admitted his habitual drinking began in the 1960s to cope with the pressures of making Star Trek. What he didn’t say during that segment—and later confided in me—was that his drinking was the result of long hours on the set, the difficult producers, and his problems with Bill Shatner.”

But Shatner disputes that version of events, telling the Post that he and Nimoy couldn’t have been closer during their heyday. Calling Nimoy “the brother I never had,” Shatner said, “I don’t know what he said in his book, but my relationship with Leonard was one of joy. To be able to share something with another human being with the full knowledge that what you’re saying is sacrosanct and personal.”

Shatner continued: “We talked about divorce and death and children and life. We were able to share knowing that what we were sharing was between us and only between us.”

However, in his 2016 memoir, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man, Shatner revealed that the two had a bitter falling out and were not speaking for the last five years of Nimoy’s life. At the time, he called the dissolution of their friendship “sad” and “permanent.”

But with years of hindsight, Shatner is able to see Nimoy as the close pal he always was. “He was my dearest friend,” Shatner admitted. “And I never had a friend like him. I never had a relationship with any male guy like the relationship I had with Leonard. I loved him, and I believe he loved me. We were brothers.”

Adam Nimoy's memoir The Most Human: Reconciling With My Father, Leonard Nimoy is available now.