Ryan Seacrest got emotional on the Monday, July 21, installment of his radio show, as he detailed his father Gary Seacrest‘s secret health battles.
The TV star revealed his dad, “who’s about 80 years old,” was “diagnosed with prostate cancer years ago and started his treatment,” but he “hasn’t gotten better.”
“It got worse and it spread. It didn’t go well for him,” Ryan shared, explaining he chose now to inform his fans since his dad just suffered another bump in the road.
Ryan Seacrest’s Dad Dealt With Pneumonia Amid Cancer Battle
The radio show host explained that on the most recent season of American Idol, his sister called to tell him their dad was in the ICU with pneumonia.
The Wheel of Fortune host got on an airplane to Atlanta, Ga., as soon as Idol wrapped the episode, admitting he was “robotic” and doesn’t even remember what he said onstage at the time.
“The night that I got there, the conversation they were having with him about an emergency surgery was a life or death conversation,” he recalled. “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. And this is ICU. With pneumonia, with the cancer, after the chemo.
“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,” the multifaceted celebrity said. “I didn’t want to miss trying to understand who these people were that were taking care of my father.”
Fortunately, Gary recovered from pneumonia after weeks in the hospital, but he’s still in the midst of his cancer battle.
“His birthday is in a few days. And I asked him. First of all, to see him getting strong, I was just so happy. And I asked him, ‘What would you like for your birthday?’ And of course he said, ‘I just want to get out of this chair. I just want to leave this house,’” he recalled. “And so last night I got the most powerful… the most powerful, good, happy picture from my dad and my mother, who was with him.”
Ryan Does His Best to Stay Positive
Ryan admitted he was “embarrassed” that he was getting choked up on-air.
“It is just, it’s difficult. Cancer affects every one of us in some way. And it… then it sucks. The treatments suck,” he expressed. “I know he’s going to get through this. You know, we were worried about flying and everything, he had to take oxygen on the plane. Thank God he made it. And they’re just happy to sit together looking at an ocean. And I just, I want to share that because I’ve been holding that in for a long time.”
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