Rob Delaney has spoken out about the “terrible” aftermath of the death of his two-year-old son Henry, describing the loss of his “beautiful” boy as a “nightmare”.
During an appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna on Monday morning, the 47-year-old actor, who is married to wife Leah, described Henry as “charming and brilliant” but admitted that “a lot of things are not right” six years after his passing.
When Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager asked Rob about his 2022 memoir, A Heart That Works, which he wrote after Henry’s death, Catastrophe said, “He died from a brain tumor that was diagnosed around his first birthday. And yes, he died in early 2018 and he was the sweetest, most wonderful guy.
“We say that about all our kids, but Henry was better than other kids. He was very funny and his brain tumor was at the back of his head, near the brain stem, so it brought him a lot of physical problems, because that part is controlled there, but his frontal lobe was fine.”
Rob continued: “He was so funny, smart, charming, beautiful, flirtatious, silly and brilliant. He learned sign language because he couldn’t talk because he had a tracheotomy, so he was a wonderful kid.”
Rob Delaney spoke about the aftermath of his son’s death during an appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna
Rob and his wife, Leah, sadly lost their two-year-old son, Henry, in 2018 after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
“And yes, you mentioned the book, I wrote a book about it because I wanted people to know about it. And I also thought that there are a lot of things written about grief that make people say, ‘But one day the sun came out again,’ and I thought, ‘Yeah, enough of that crap.'”
“It’s a nightmare and I thought the best thing I could do was explain how awful it is and allow the reader to maybe have hope in seeing that my family is ‘okay’ now, but I didn’t want to prescribe it and say, ‘everything will be okay,’ because a lot of things aren’t okay.
When Hoda, 59, told him they were “glad” he wanted to talk about it, Rob replied: “No, I love talking about him. He’s my son, I’m his dad, his siblings miss him, his mom misses him and he’s still a part of our family, so I don’t know how not to talk about him.”
Earlier this month, Rob admitted he was worried he wouldn’t be able to love his fourth child because his heart was “broken” after losing Henry to cancer.
The 47-year-old comedy star, who is from Massachusetts but lives in north London, spoke about Henry on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs with presenter Lauren Laverne.
In the candid interview, Rob admitted he was worried he wouldn’t be able to love Henry’s younger brother after his death and said his heart was “broken.”
She said: ‘I remember thinking, when I was about to be born, ‘Well, my heart has been shattered, it’s been torn to pieces and destroyed, and it’s just rubbish, so I’m going to take care of this child, feed it, dress it in clothes that fit it, am I going to be able to love it? I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that anymore.’
“But the nanosecond he left my wife’s body, I looked at him and started crying, and I was so in love with him… I love him desperately. But you have to feel and honor your pain. When feelings come, it’s best to let them out.”
Rob described the loss of his “beautiful” son as a “nightmare” but says he loves talking about him.
Rob pictured with his wife, Leah, at the British Academy Television Craft Awards in April 2018
In the emotional interview, Rob also spoke about Henry’s final months.
“He had a good death. In his last months, we had four and a half months where we knew he was going to die, his brothers were very much in love with him,” she said.
‘They all loved each other so much… I watched a four-year-old and a six-year-old hold their brother’s body, I watched them take incredible care of him and learn difficult things because it took really intense things to take care of him.
“I hate to think about them not having it. I really hate it.
“They talk about him all the time and they love him, and they smile when they talk about him and they love looking at pictures of him and he’s a very important part of our lives.”
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