# Kaley Cuoco cries for her TV dad

> At a gala for aortic health, Kaley Cuoco broke down remembering John Ritter, the sitcom dad she lost on set at 16.
- Title: Kaley Cuoco cries for her TV dad · Variety | Shortify
- Summary: At a gala for aortic health, Kaley Cuoco broke down remembering John Ritter, the sitcom dad she lost on set at 16. John Ritter died of a thoracic aortic…
- Keywords: kaley cuoco, john ritter, television, aortic health, grief, entertainment, culture, Kaley, Cuoco, cries, dad, Variety
- Source: Variety — https://variety.com/2026/tv/columns/kaley-cuoco-death-8-simple-rules-john-ritter-1236860467
- Author: Marc Malkin
- Published: 2026-09-13T16:50:57+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: kaley cuoco, john ritter, television, aortic health, grief, entertainment, culture
## A night for her TV dad
Kaley Cuoco turned up Saturday in Los Angeles to honor John Ritter, who played her father on the ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules."
## He died on set
In 2003, while the show was in production, Ritter suffered a fatal thoracic aortic dissection, a tear in the heart's main artery.
## Still can't tell it dry
Twenty-three years on, Cuoco choked up the moment she started speaking about him.

> I always cry when I talk about him
## Evening From the Heart
She spoke at the annual gala for the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, the group his family started after his death.
## Sixteen and overdressed
Cuoco remembered meeting Ritter at the first table read. She was 16, cast as the hot girl, and picked the flashiest thing in her closet.

> It had these little spaghetti straps, just ridiculous.
## A joke about now
Pregnant with her second child with fiance Tom Pelphrey, she pointed at her belly and called herself the hot girl "before I was knocked up."
## Key takeaway

John Ritter died of a thoracic aortic dissection at 54, and the foundation his family built keeps raising money for the heart condition that took him.