RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Add Page Six on Google Katey Sagal revealed her final moments with "8 Simple Rules" co-star and onscreen husband John Ritter before his "mind-blowing" death.
During her appearance on Ted Danson's "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" podcast this week, Sagal recalled she "was there" when Ritter died at age 54 in 2003.
"We were doing press pretty much at four in the afternoon on that day and then by 10 o'clock that night, he left us," the actress remembered.
Sagal, 72, added, "It was mind-blowing."
"8 Simple Rules" was early in production on Season 2 when Ritter collapsed on the set of the sitcom on Sept. 11, 2003.
The Emmy Award winner was rushed to the hospital and died later that evening.
His symptoms were treated as a heart attack but he ultimately died from thoracic aortic dissection — a condition in which a tear occurs in the inner layer of the aorta, the body’s main artery.
Sagal, who played Ritter's onscreen wife, Cate Hennessy, on the show, told Danson she still feels her late co-star's presence.
“It’s interesting, I don’t know what your belief system is, but I feel him around a lot," she shared. "I just feel him around. His energy and his love of laughter and life.”
The "Lost" star noted that while she thinks Ritter "had his darker side too," he "brought so much light that I just feel him around.”
Sagal also remembered how the "Three's Company" star "would make such big jokes about face acting" when they worked together.
"Because he had that rubbery face," she continued of Ritter, whom Danson called "a sweet soul."
After Ritter's passing, "8 Simple Rules" — which was titled "8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter" during its first two seasons with the actor at the helm — brought James Garner and David Spade into the cast as Sagal's character's father and nephew, respectively. However, the sitcom, which also starred Kaley Cuoco, only lasted one more full season before being canceled after Season 3 due to low ratings.
At the time of his death, Ritter was married to Amy Yasbeck, with whom he shared son Noah Lee.
Ritter had three other children — actors Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter, and country singer Carly Ritter — with his first wife, Nancy Morgan.
In 2023, Yasbeck told Fox News Digital how Ritter's children help her remember the late actor.
“There’s no way to not keep John’s memory alive. All four kids are freaking hilarious, and they do not have to imitate their dad. They’ve all got their own thing,” she said.
Yasback added, "If you get all four kids together, you can kind of re-create John, so that’s always good."
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