Katey Sagal reflects on doing press with John Ritter hours before his ‘mind-blowing’ death

Katey Sagal is remembering the last time she saw John Ritter.

During a recent visit to the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, the 72-year-old actress opened up about her “mind-blowing” experience doing press with her late 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter costar just hours before his death at age 54 in 2003.

“I was there, yes,” Sagal told host Ted Danson. “We were doing press pretty much at four in the afternoon on that day and then by 10 o’clock that night, he left us.”

She added, “It was mind-blowing. It was just really mind-blowing.”

Ritter died Sept. 11, 2003 after collapsing on the set of 8 Simple Rules while filming its second season. While it was originally believed that the actor had suffered a heart attack, it was later revealed to have been an aortic dissection.

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More than two decades after his death, Sagal noted that she believes Ritter still comes to pay her a visit from time to time. “It’s interesting,” she remarked. “I don’t know what your belief system is, but I feel him around a lot. I just feel him around. His energy and his love of laughter and life.”

She continued, “Even though I think he had his darker side too, he just brought so much light that I just feel him around.”

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Based on W. Bruce Cameron’s book of the same name, 8 Simple Rules followed parents Paul (Ritter) and Cate (Sagal) Hennessy as they raised their three rambunctious children played by Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, and Martin Spanjers. After a hiatus following Ritter’s death, the show returned for two more seasons before coming to an end in 2005.

In the years since, the onscreen family has held several real-life reunions. That includes when Cuoco, Davidson, and Ritter’s wife Amy Yasbeck all posed for photographs together while attending a John Ritter Foundation event back in 2023.

“My Hennessy family from a little show called 8 Simple Rules is also here tonight,” Cuoco told PEOPLE at the time. “It’s great to be back together.”

She continued, “Amy Davidson, Martin Spanjers, and Katey Sagal… just, thank you. This is really awesome. I think John is laughing his ass off right now. He cannot believe we’re here.”

Ritter is survived by Yasbeck as well as his four children: Jason, Tyler, Carly, and Noah.

Listen to Sagal discuss her final moments with Ritter in the clip above.