Cuoco and Ritter starred together on the first season of “8 Simple Rules.” Ritter appeared in only three episodes of season 2 before his death.

Kaley Cuoco cries recalling John Ritter’s death, calls it ‘one of the worst days of my life’

Cuoco and Ritter starred together on the first season of “8 Simple Rules.” Ritter appeared in only three episodes of season 2 before his death.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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September 15, 2026 8:33 a.m. ET

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John Ritter and Kaley Cuoco on ‘8 Simple Rules’. Credit:

Bob D'Amico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

- Kaley Cuoco is looking back on her time shooting *8 Simple Rules *with John Ritter.

- The *Flight Attendant *star starred on the first season of the ABC sitcom with Ritter, who died midway into filming season 2.

- “He meant so much to me and he was so special,” Cuoco said, calling the day of his death “one of the worst days of my life.”

Kaley Cuoco remembers her *8 Simple Rules *dad John Ritter with the utmost fondness. But the day he died in 2003 will always leave a mark.

“I realized that I actually only spent a year and a half with him, which is so strange, because he meant so much to me, and he was so special,” Cuoco shared at Evening from the Heart L.A., the annual gala which kicks off The John Ritter Foundation’s Aortic Dissection Awareness Week, and which was held Saturday at The Sunset Room in Hollywood.

“To be on a show like that and to watch him lead the way he did, and how he loved, and how he made everyone laugh...” Cuoco recalled from the stage, emotion welling in her voice.

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*8 Simple Rules... For Dating My Teenage Daughter *was a star-studded sitcom that premiered on ABC in 2002. Costarring Katey Sagal, Amy Davidson, James Garner, and David Spade, the series followed the futile attempts of Ritter’s Paul Hennessy and Sagal’s Cate Hennessy to tame their rebellious teenage daughter, Bridget (Cuoco).

Though Cuoco had already built significant resumé when she was cast at only 16 (including roles on episodes of *Ellen*, *7th Heaven*, and *My So-Called Life*), heavy-hitter Ritter took the rising actress under his wing when the series kicked off.

“He was constantly whispering into my ear — ‘The audience likes when you mess up. Mess up!’ He would just stop a take and say, ‘Does anyone else have to pee?’ It’s like, ‘We’re rolling here!’ He was so funny,” Cuoco recalled. “I took all that with me in my life, and the jobs I had after him. But he always has been the North Star in my career, and someone that I adore.”

Kaley Cuoco and John Ritter. Albert L. Ortega/WireImage

The *Three’s Company *Emmy winner arrived to the *8 Simple Rules *set on Sept. 11, 2003, like it was any other day. He ran lines with his longtime friend Henry Winkler, who appeared in a guest role on the sitcom, later informing his costars he felt sick to his stomach. A studio doctor convinced him to visit the hospital after he complained of severe chest pains.

Hours later, the 54-year-old was pronounced dead, eventually being diagnosed with aortic dissection, a rare, often fatal condition that occurs when a tear develops on the inner lining of the aortic artery, per the Cleveland Clinic. Though the onset of aortic dissection is often traced to sudden elevation in blood pressure after heavy exertion, it can occur “while doing anything, at rest or when you’re sleeping. There are no aortic dissection warning signs.”

Cuoco referred to the day of Ritter’s death as “one of the worst days of my life.”

The actress shared more memories of Ritter at last year’s Evening from the Heart gala. “I was 16 when we did our first table read, and I was playing the ‘sexy’ sister’... And so, I remember I wore a very revealing dress to our table read,” she recalled. “When John walked in, he came in, he didn’t say anything to me. He took his jacket off and put his jacket over me and he said, ‘You’ll never dress like that again, missy.’ That was the first thing he ever said to me, and he instantly became my TV dad.”

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