Ryan Seacrest Breaks Down in Tears Over Dad's Prostate Cancer Struggle: ‘No One Tells You How to Handle This'
The American Idol host was prompted to reveal his family's private struggle while discussing colleague Dennis Clark's 'victory story' of remission from cancer. Ryan, 50, had shared in a 2021 Instagram post that his father, who turns 81 on July 27, had been 'battling cancer for several years'— but at the time, they thought it was 'no longer detectable.'
However, as he said in a July 21 broadcast of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, "It got worse and it spread.'
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'When this happens to somebody or someone really close to you that you love, this is a hard thing to see, because the treatments that are commonly recommended can be barbaric to the system. They can cause so much damage to your body in other ways," Ryan shared.
The host also noted that Gary contracted pneumonia while undergoing chemotherapy. When Ryan was hosting American Idol's live shows last season, his sister Meredith called him with dire news: She said, ' 'Dad is in the ICU, and how fast can you get here?' '
Explaining that he's 'never really spoken about this,' Ryan said he somehow finished the episode even though 'I didn't even remember what I was saying.'
Once the show wrapped, he flew to Atlanta to see his father: 'The night that I got there, the conversation they were having with [my father] about an emergency surgery was a life or death conversation, and 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.'
Gary opted to not have surgery, Ryan said, explaining he visited his father daily in the hospital and ended up broadcasting his radio shows from his hotel room in Atlanta.
'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," he shared. "I didn't want to miss trying to understand who these people were that were taking care of my father.'
He continued: 'He could not get up to sit. He could not eat. He could not drink water. He could not go to the bathroom. Weeks go by in ICU and finally he began to get some strength back.'
Ryan noted that he wanted to help his mother, Connie, who is in remission from cancer. 'I needed her to take a break,' he said. 'When you're a kid, no one tells you how to handle this with your parents.'
'He slowly gained strength,' said Ryan, who went on to praise the 'angels' — the nurses — who looked after his father. 'The nurses are the people that nurture and care and have emotion about their patients. The nurses are the ones that are really looking after them day and night for hours, and I loved the team of nurses,' Ryan added, continuing to share that he sent them something to thank them afterward.
His father was released this month and is home in Atlanta with full-time care, Ryan shared. He also revealed that he has flown back and forth from Los Angeles every weekend to visit his father, who struggled to get up out of his chair for nearly five months. 'His birthday is in a few days, and I asked him, 'What would you like for your birthday?' ' to which Ryan recalled his father replying, ' 'I just want to get out of this chair. I just want to leave this house.' '
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His voice audibly broke — and Ryan took a moment to steady his emotions. He shared that the night before, 'I got the most powerful, good, happy picture from my dad and my mother, who was with him. They went to a beach to sit outside. They just went to look at the water. They can't do much, but I saw him smile. I saw my mom smile."
'I'm embarrassed,' Ryan admitted as his emotions overtook him. 'I watched them over the weekend send photos of smiling and happiness, and being together. They've been married for over 55 years. They've got each other and the pneumonia is gone, but his cancer is not.'
He shared he was 'so excited and happy' for his colleague, Clark, 'When he had beaten it.'
'Cancer affects every one of us in some way, and it. And it sucks. And the treatments suck … treatments are tough. But I know he's going to get through this," Ryan continued.
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