Conan O’Brien’s mother died just three days after his father’s death.
The 61-year-old television presenter was devastated after losing his father, Dr Thomas O’Brien, on Monday, at the age of 95, and was dealt a double blow on Thursday when his mother, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, died. Brien. at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, at age 92.
The sad news was confirmed in an obituary for Ruth, which read: ‘O’Brien, Ruth Reardon of Brookline passed away peacefully on December 12, 2024, at the age of 92. Beloved wife of sixty-six years of Thomas Francis O’Brien, MD, who passed away on December 9, 2024.’
Conan paid tribute to his father in an interview with the Boston Globewhich was published on Thursday and said: “Science has said there is no such thing as perpetual motion, but my father was proof that that was wrong.”
‘My father was constantly on the move. And he was interested in everything, absolutely everything… The loudest laugh I ever heard was when I was sitting next to him in a movie theater watching Peter Sellers in a Pink Panther movie… He was often the loudest guy. fun in the room. And when he laughed, his whole body convulsed and he almost hugged himself.
‘For the rest of my time on earth I will listen to people who want to talk to me about my dad. I’ve never met anyone like him and he happens to be my father.
“If I ran into him in a hotel lobby, I’d think, ‘Who the hell is this guy? He’s the most interesting person I’ve ever met.'”
Conan O’Brien’s mother died just three days after his father’s death; seen in 2022
Conan’s parents will be remembered at a joint funeral in Boston on December 18.
Conan previously shared an anecdote about his mother meeting movie comedian Jim Carrey at a Christmas party and not recognizing him.
During an appearance on Ryan Tubridy’s Virgin Radio show earlier this year, Conan said: “Years and years ago I had a Christmas party at my house.
“This was at the height of Jim Carrey mania, you know, he was coming off his fourth big hit movie, and it was like The Beatles… Everywhere Jim Carrey went there was a riot…
‘Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother having a long chat with Jim Carrey and I got nervous. When the party ended I told her: ‘Mom, what were you talking to that man about? Jim?’
And she said, ‘Oh… he told me he’s a comedian, and I said, ‘Well, my son has had his struggles, but he keeps going and he finally made it.’ So if you keep it up, Jim, you’ll make it too.”
“And I said, ‘Mom, I want you to go back to Boston and tell everyone that you told Jim Carrey to keep it up!’
Her mother was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts and graduated from Yale Law School, where she was one of four women in her law school class.
While earning her degree, she served as vice president of student government and became the second woman to be a partner at the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
She met her husband in 1958 through her brothers, who were her classmates.
In addition to Conan, the couple are survived by their five other children, Neal, Jane, Justin, Kate and Luke, as well as nine grandchildren.