Amy Yasbeck Still Speaks to Late Husband John Ritter Daily
Twenty-three years after his death, the actress shares how she keeps the memory of the beloved actor alive.
John Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, revealed that she continues to speak to the late actor daily, more than two decades after his passing.
"I still talk to John," Yasbeck told Page Six in an exclusive interview. "I check in all the time. … I talk to him every day."
Yasbeck explained that she and Ritter's three children from his previous marriage—Jason, Carly, and Tyler—often find connection through shared memories of things they believe the actor would have enjoyed. "A new comic comes on the scene, or there’s physical comedy," she said, describing moments where the family feels "like John is with us or beside us when we’re watching something entertaining."
Ritter, known for his role in "Three's Company," died in September 2003 at the age of 54. He had been rehearsing his sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" when he experienced chest pains. He was taken to the hospital and initially treated for a heart attack, but died that night from an aortic dissection.
Yasbeck, 64, met Ritter during a read-through for their 1990 film "Problem Child." They welcomed their son, Noah, in 1998 and married the following year.
She shared that what she misses most about her husband is witnessing him as a father. "That encompasses everything," Yasbeck said. "His humanity, his comedy, his empathy, his frustration at the world."
She recalled Ritter as a "very fair-minded, progressive guy" who would become upset by the unfair treatment of others, particularly children. "It would piss him off," she said. "I mean, for the world, but also for his kids. Like, what are we doing?"
Yasbeck also noted that it has been rare for a day to pass since Ritter's death without someone approaching her to express how much the actor meant to them. "He really affected people that way," she said.
In the wake of Ritter's death, Yasbeck established the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health to raise awareness about aortic dissection and help prevent similar tragedies. "You can remember John, everybody remembers John," she explained. "It’s not about that. It’s [about] losing somebody in your family to something that was preventable. … The fact that it’s highly genetic."
On November 2, Yasbeck and Ritter's "Three's Company" co-star Joyce DeWitt are scheduled to host a 50th-anniversary celebration for the show at Joe's Pub in New York City. The event will include a celebrity staged reading featuring Jason Biggs, Christine Taylor, Richard Kind, Susie Essman, and Richard Kline.