Katey Sagal reflected on the death of her “8 Simple Rules” co-star John Ritter, saying she still feels his presence two decades later.
“We were doing press, pretty much, at 4 in the afternoon on that day. And then, by 10:00 that night, he left us,” Sagal recalled to Ted Danson during her Wednesday appearance on his “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast. “It was mind-blowing. It was just really mind-blowing.”
As Sagal went on, she expressed that over 20 years after this loss, she can still feel “him around.”
“I don’t know what your belief system is, but I feel him around a lot,” she said. “I just feel him around. I can just [feel] his energy and his love of laughter and life – even though I think he had his darker side.”
She added: “He just brought so much light, that I just feel him around.”
Watch her comments below.
Ritter, who was best known for starring opposite Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers on ABC’s “Three’s Company” in the late ’70s and early ’80s, died from an aortic dissection at the age of 54 in September 2003.
As Sagal mentioned, Ritter had been filming “8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter” at the time of his passing, which later rebranded to “8 Simple Rules” following the leading man’s death.
In the wake of Ritter’s passing, James Garner and David Spade joined the cast of the show, which also starred Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson and Martin Spanjers.
Ultimately, “8 Simple Rules” was canceled by ABC after three season due to low ratings, coming to an end on April 15, 2005.
