Kelly Ripa, 49, has known John Callahan and his ex-wife Eva LaRue, 53, for decades as they all costarred on AMC back in the 90’s. So it came as no surprise that she would speak out about his death in such a passionate way which she did on her Instagram hours after he died at the age of 66 on Saturday, March 28. She posted a photo of John & Eva when they were pregnant with their now 18-year-old daughter Kaya at a red carpet event that came with a truly saddening caption. “Because there are no words, all I can muster is Rest In Peace #johncallahan. My heart breaks for you @evalarue and @kaya_callahan.” Kelly’s husband Mark Consuelos, 48, responded to her words in the comments section with, “RIP Johnny numbers. ‘There’s cash..-and then there’s cash, cash.’ JC.”
John, who starred on All My Children for thirteen years as fan-favorite Edmund Grey, was married to Eva from 1996 to 2005. Kaya, born in December 2001, was their only child together. He passed away after he suffered from a massive stroke at his home in Palm Desert, California. “May Flights of Angels Wing You to Your Rest my Dear Friend. Your bigger than life, gregarious personality will leave a hole in our hearts forever,” Eva wrote in her own Instagram post that included a pictorial of many moments shared by the family-of-three.
Other stars from the iconic soap series have spoken out in the aftermath of John’s passing. Sarah Michelle Gellar, 42, who was part of the AMC family between 1993-1995, shared a touching tribute to him on her Instagram. “Get past the horrible eyebrows on me and you will notice the incredibly handsome man, standing beside, me at my high school graduation,” she wrote next to a photo of them together in the early 90’s. “That’s #JohnCallahan or better know to me as GP (but why I called him that remains between us and those closest to him). He stepped into a lot of moments in my life because I didn’t have a father to be there.”
John had a long history in the world of daytime television that dated all the way back to 1984 when he made his soap debut on General Hospital. He later appeared in Amazon Prime Video’s The Bay and Days of Our Lives. John also co-hosted the Lifetime series Weddings of a Lifetime in 1995 and the Miss America pageant in 1997 with Eva. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.