Kaley Cuoco paid tribute to the life and legacy of her late “8 Simple Rules” co-star John Ritter.
On Thursday, the 38-year-old actress, who starred alongside Ritter in the sitcom from 2002 to 2003, spoke warmly of the actor at An Evening From The Heart, a gala that benefited the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. Ritter died in 2003 at the age of 54 from an undetected thoracic aortic dissection.
“He was very special to me,” the “Big Bang Theory” star told Access Hollywood at Los Angeles’ Sunset Room Hollywood.
Kaley Cuoco honored her late co-star John Ritter at a charity gala. (Getty)
“He was also very special to a lot of people,” Cuoco added. “He left quite a legacy, not only as an incredible actor but as an incredible human.
JOHN RITTER’S WIDOW KEEPS ‘THREE’S COMPANY’ STAR’S LEGACY ALIVE 20 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH
“When you think about it, I spent a year and a half with him only, and the way he touched my life has far exceeded that one and a half years,” she said of Ritter, who played her father in the TV show.
“So, I will always do anything that has his name attached to it, and especially to raise awareness regarding what happened to him and how awful it can be for some of these families. I will always be the voice for this exact thing.”
Cuoco and Ritter played daughter and father in the sitcom “8 Simple Rules.” (Gale M. Adler/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
The John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health works to raise awareness of thoracic aortic disease through research, education and advocacy.
Cuoco also shared words of advice Ritter gave her that she has taken to heart the past two decades.
“I remember when I would mess up in front of the audience, he’d go, ‘They love it! They love it! They love when you mess up.’ And I go, ‘What?’ He’d go, ‘Sometimes, I do it on purpose,'” “The Flight Attendant” star told Access Hollywood.
“I started watching him purposefully mess up and make these mistakes, and the audience would go crazy,” she added.
“I’ve literally taken that with me for 20 years,” Cuoco said. “He gave everyone what they wanted. He was the class clown. He never took himself too seriously, and I think we need to get a little bit back to that, not taking ourselves too seriously.”
