Ryan Seacrest breaks down in tears over dad’s cancer

Ryan Seacrest is getting candid. 

Seacrest, 50, got emotional and teared up during a July 21 broadcast of “On Air With Ryan Seacrest,” while talking about his father, Gary Seacrest, 80, who is battling prostate cancer.

During the broadcast, the “American Idol” host confessed that he’s “never really spoken about this.”

The “Wheel of Fortune” host had previously talked about his father’s health, but hadn’t shared many details or personal feelings about it until now.

 In a 2021 Instagram post, he said that Gary had been “battling cancer for several years.” 

At the time, they thought it was “no longer detectable,” but on Monday’s “On Air with Ryan Seacrest,” he tearfully admitted that his father’s cancer “got worse and it spread.”

The former “Live with Kelly and Ryan” co-host said that when this happens to a loved one, it’s “a hard thing to see, because the treatments that are commonly recommended can be barbaric to the system. They can cause so much damage to your body in other ways.” 

Gary also got pneumonia while undergoing chemotherapy, Ryan revealed. 

During “American Idol” last season, he said that his sister Meredith called him to say, “Dad is in the ICU, and how fast can you get here?” 

After he finished “American Idol,” he recalled flying to Atlanta to go to the hospital. 

“The night that I got there, the conversation they were having with [my father] about an emergency surgery was a life or death conversation, and I’ve never seen my strong, very smart father with the look on his face that he had — and the concern, and looking at me to help guide what decisions should be made in this moment,” Ryan said. 

Gary decided not to have surgery, but Ryan stuck around at the time and broadcast “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” from his Atlanta hotel. 

“When you see a parent suffering and when you see them going through this and you don’t understand it yourself, you’re just listening to all the different doctors and trying to make sense of what they’re trying to suggest and do,” he explained.

The “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” host said about his father: “He could not get up to sit. He could not eat. He could not drink water. He could not go to the bathroom. Weeks go by in ICU and finally he began to get some strength back.” 

Ryan’s mother, Connie, is also in remission after a cancer battle, which made him want to help out more, he explained. 

“I needed her to take a break,” he said. “When you’re a kid, no one tells you how to handle this with your parents.”

He added that his parents have been married “for over 55 years. They’ve got each other and the pneumonia is gone, but his cancer is not.”

The prolific TV host explained that the nurses who looked after his father were “angels… that nurture and care and have emotion about their patients” and that he “loved” them.

Gary was released earlier this month and is home in Atlanta, Ryan said. 

He revealed that he’s flown from Los Angeles to Atlanta every weekend to visit his father, who struggled to stand up from his chair. 

Getting emotional and saying, “I’m embarrassed,” Ryan continued, “I got the most powerful, good, happy picture from my dad and my mother, who was with him. They went to a beach to sit outside. They just went to look at the water. They can’t do much, but I saw him smile. I saw my mom smile.”

Ryan ended by sharing, “Cancer affects every one of us in some ways. And it sucks. And the treatments suck … treatments are tough. But I know he’s going to get through this.”