Comedian Rob Delaney speaks out about 'nightmare' aftermath of his two-year-old son's death from brain cancer - as he admits 'a lot of things aren't fine' six years later

Comedian Rob Delaney speaks out about 'nightmare' aftermath of his two-year-old son's death from brain cancer - as he admits 'a lot of things aren't fine' six years later
By: dailymail Posted On: July 22, 2024 View: 81

Rob Delaney has opened up about the 'awful' aftermath of his two-year-old son Henry's death and described the loss of his 'gorgeous' 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 aren't fine' 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, the Catastrophe said: 'He died of a brain tumor that he was diagnosed with right around his first birthday. And yeah, he died in the beginning of 2018 and he was just the sweetest little most wonderful guy.

'We say that about all of our kids, but Henry was better than other children. He was so funny, and his brain tumor was in the back of his head near his brain stem so it brought him a lot of physical difficulties, because that stuff is controlled back there, but his frontal lobe was fine.'

Rob continued: 'He was very funny and smart and charming and gorgeous and flirty and silly and brilliant. He learned sign language because he couldn't talk because he had a tracheotomy, so just a wonderful boy.

Rob Delaney opened up 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 tumor

'And yeah, you mentioned the book, I wrote a book about him because I wanted people to know about him. And I also thought, there's a lot of stuff written about grief that people are kind of like, "but then one day the sun came out again," and I was like, "yeah, enough of that crap."

'It's a nightmare and I figured the best thing I could do was to sort of elucidate how awful it is and let the reader maybe glean hope by seeing that my family is "okay" now, but I didn't want to prescribe it and be like, "it'll all be fine," because a lot of things aren't fine.'

When Hoda, 59, told him they were 'glad' that he wanted to talk about it, Rob replied: 'No, I love to talk about him. He's my son, I'm his dad, his brothers miss him, his mom misses him and he's still part of our family and so I don't know how to not talk about him.'

Earlier this month, Rob admitted that he was worried he wouldn't be able to love his fourth son - because his heart was 'destroyed' after losing Henry to cancer.

The comedy star, 47, who is from Massachusetts but lives in north London, opened up about Henry on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs with host Lauren Laverne.

In the candid interview Rob admitted he worried that he wouldn't be able to love Henry's younger brother after his death, saying his heart was 'torn to pieces.'

He said: 'I remember thinking, when he was about to be born, "well my heart has been destroyed, it has been torn into pieces and destroyed, and it's just garbage, so I will take care of this kid, I will feed him, I will put him in clothing that fits, am I going to be able to love him? I don't know if I can do that anymore."

'But the nanosecond he exited my wife's body, I looked at him and started weeping, and I was so in love with him... I love him desperately. But you have to feel and honor your pain. When the feelings come it's best to let them.'

Rob described losing his 'gorgeous' child as a 'nightmare,' but says he loves to talk 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 last few months.

'He did have a good death. His final months – we had four-and-a-half of them where we knew he was going to die – his brothers were just so into him,' he said.

'They all loved each other so much… I watched a four and a six-year-old hold their brother's dead body, I watched them take unbelievable care of him and learn difficult things because he required really intense things to take care of him.

'I just hate thinking about them not having him. 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 to look at ­pictures of him and he is very much part of our lives.'

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