John Ritter’s Widow, Amy Yasbeck, Reveals Important Role He Has in Her Life, 23 Years After His Passing

Getty

John Ritter, beloved for his role in the sitcom “Three’s Company,” died on September 11, 2003. He was 54. But his memory lives on through all those who loved him.

John Ritter’s Wife Reveals She Talks to Him Every Day

Ritter’s death deeply affected fans and loved ones, who mourned his passing. He is survived by his four children, Jason, Carly, and Tyler, from his first marriage to Nancy Morgan, and a son, Noah, from his relationship with his second wife, Amy Yasbeck. The couple was married when Ritter died.

23 years have passed since Ritter died, but his loving widow remembers him every day. “I still talk to John,” Yasbeck told Page Six in an interview published on Saturday, October 31. “I check in all the time. … I talk to him every day.”

Yasbeck shared that she and Ritter’s children have stayed bonded by memories of the actor and what he liked. “A new comic comes on the scene, or there’s physical comedy,” Yasbeck said. It makes the family feel “like John is with us or beside us when we’re watching something entertaining.”

She added, “John was such a good audience. He loved being on stage. He loved to be in an audience.” 

Ritter and Yasbeck married in 1999. In her interview, she also spoke about what a wonderful father he was, and how she missed that the most. “That encompasses everything,” she said. “His humanity, his comedy, his empathy, his frustration at the world.” She also called Ritter a “very fair-minded, progressive guy” who wanted equality. “So him as a father encompassed everything about him,” she added. 

Remember Beloved Actor John Ritter 

Ritter died from a rare condition known as aortic dissection. In the moments leading up to his death, nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he maintained his regular routine while filming the ABC show, “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.”

During filming, he began to feel unwell and went to lie down in his dressing room, People reports. His condition would rapidly deteriorate. The publication reports that he was laid to rest days later, on September 15, at Los Angeles’ Forest Lawn cemetery, where his family and friends held a private ceremony.

To honor his memory, Yasbeck created the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health to raise awareness for the condition. In 2023, on the 20th anniversary of the foundation, when asked about the joy that keeping Ritter alive through his legacy brings Yasbeck, she replied, “It’s a trade-off. Because the legacy is keeping his family alive,” People reports.

She continued, “The legacy is keeping his family alive. And he thought everyone was connected and everyone is everyone’s family, which I believe, but he believed it very deeply. So in my heartfelt effort to understand what aortic dissection is, understand the genetic component, which is extremely high, and trying to protect John’s kids and his brother.”

After Ritter’s death, tributes poured in, including one from his longtime assistant, Susan Wilcox. “It’s just stunning, unbelievable,” she said, People reports. “Everybody loved John Ritter. Everybody loved working with him. … Whatever set he was working on, he made it a very fun place.”