Amy Yasbeck Is Not Ready to Date Nearly 20 Years After Husband John Ritter’s Death | “I Always Feel Like He’s With Me”

Amy Yasbeck has spent 20 years navigating life without her husband, John Ritter, who died of an aortic dissection in 2003. The Wings star confessed that she has never been "in the mood" to date ever since her husband's death decades ago. "I miss John as a partner," the 60-year-old widow told PEOPLE from her Los Angeles home in 2022. "I don't date," Yasbeck confessed. "I mean, it could happen. I'm not in the mood. I think I would miss John more if I was dating, as weird as that sounds. But because I always feel like he's with me, and that would be weird because in that case, three is not company," referencing the late actor's stint as Jack Tripper in the sitcom Three's Company.

Even though the actor is no longer with her she is determined to honor his spirit and keep his memory trying to spread awareness about how he died so as to prevent another family from experiencing similar heartbreak. "I have been dedicating heart and soul and mostly aorta, to creating the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health," Yasbeck shared. "It takes up a great deal of time, but it needed to happen and it has already had some beautiful results in just the awareness that's brought to aortic dissection and aortic health in general."

Ritter was on the set of the sitcom 8 Simple Rules when he suddenly fell ill. He had been on the set for rehearsals when he experienced nausea and vomiting. It was also his daughter, Stella's fifth birthday. The Problem Child actor was rushed to a Burbank hospital, where he initially was treated for a heart attack, but he died later that evening of what was an undetected aortic dissection. He was just 54 years old when he died.

An 'aortic dissection' is a serious condition in which a tear occurs in the inner layer of the body's main artery (aorta). Blood rushes through the tear, causing the inner and middle layers of the aorta to split (dissect). If the blood goes through the outside aortic wall, the results are fatal, reports Mayo Clinic. "All of the family gets scanned, all the first-degree relatives, and it's never going to sneak up on us. It's something repairable and preventable," assured Yasbeck. "But if you don't know that your family's at risk or if you're not aware of aortic dissection at all, it can come out of the blue and you can learn the hard way, like we did when John was misdiagnosed," she added.

She remembers her final moments with her longtime love. "He was smiling at me," she recalled. "And I said ... ‘I love you.'" She indicated he had said, "I love you" back in American Sign Language, which they both signed to each other during stage performances. "And he held it as he went around the corner," she said. "That’s the last time I saw him till I saw him dead, after he died," she said per TODAY.

References:

https://www.today.com/popculture/ritters-wife-gives-detailed-account-his-death-1C9416529

https://people.com/tv/amy-yasbeck-not-ready-to-date-after-john-ritter-death-exclusive/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aortic-dissection/symptoms-causes/

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Robert Mora