Ryan Seacrest broke down in tears after revealing his father’s harrowing health battle, in an incredibly vulnerable moment for the TV personality.
The 50-year-old got candid about his dad Gary’s health scare on his radio show On Air with Ryan Seacrest, sharing that the patriarch had spent weeks in the ICU recovering from pneumonia.
By his side
“I haven’t shared this on the air because it has been very private for me and family, as it was something that was extremely hard to see with my father,” Ryan said on the show.
“So my dad is about 80 years old, and I have a very close relationship with my father. And my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer years ago, and started his treatment,” he revealed. “And it didn’t get better. It got worse and it spread.”
He added that Gary’s chemotherapy caused a slew of issues and weakened his immune system significantly, so that he contracted pneumonia.
© Instagram“I was on an American Idol show live during last season, and my sister called me and she said: ‘Dad is in the ICU, and how fast can you get here?'” he recalled.
While the host still “finished the show”, he could not “remember what I was saying” and immediately took a flight to Atlanta after the show, arriving to find Gary weak and frightened.
“I’ve never seen my strong, very smart father with the look on his face that he had and the concern, and looking at me to help guide what decisions should be made in this moment,” Ryan said. “And this is ICU, with pneumonia, with the cancer, after the chemo, so weak.”
© Disney via Getty ImagesThe Wheel of Fortune star broadcast from Atlanta in order to be closer to his father, and visited the ICU every single day.
“When you see a parent suffering and when you see them going through this, and you don’t understand it yourself – you’re just listening to all the different doctors and trying to make sense of what they’re trying to suggest and do – it is a hard thing,” he explained.
On the mend
© InstagramAfter months in the hospital, Gary was finally discharged and allowed to go home, yet had to remain under “full-time care”.
“Weeks went by. He didn’t leave his seat or a hospital or a home for four and a half months. I went back and forth over the weekends,” Ryan recalled. He then was overcome with emotion when sharing his dad’s recent birthday wish.
© InstagramHe added that one night earlier, he had received a beautiful picture of his parents at the beach enjoying the sunshine. “They just wanted to look at the water. They can’t do much. But I saw him smile. I saw my mom smile,” he said.
“I’m embarrassed to – I’m just emotional,” the Georgia native said as he wiped his tears. “I am so – anyway, I watched them over the weekend, [they sent] photos of smiling and happiness, and being together. They’ve been married for over 55 years, and they’ve got each other.”
Ryan is incredibly close with his parents Gary and Connie, and the pair help run his nonprofit, the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.
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