Before Alan Thicke died last December, he was playing hockey with his son Carter. The 19-year-old was the last member of his family to speak with him, and he recently told Entertainment Tonight what that was like.
When the heart attack took place, it didn't seem like it would be fatal. "The ambulance came and the paramedics had stabilized him and everything seemed fine," he said. "I got to give him a hug and said, 'I love you,' and that was the last time I saw him."
The way Carter remembers the Growing Pains star, who was 69 when he died, is equally heartbreaking. "He was like the perfect dad," he said.
Robin Thicke similarly called his father "the greatest man I've ever met" in a statement to the Los Angeles Times right after his death. "The good thing was that he was beloved and he had closure. ... I saw him a few days ago and told him how much I loved and respected him."
Gloria Loring, the mother of Robin and Thicke's other son Brennan, told People her sons were "just devastated and could barely talk" when their father passed away.
The family members consoled one another when they gathered for Loring and Brennan's birthdays. "Obviously, we have to continue to embrace what we do have and there’ll be a lot of talk about Dad," Loring said. "It will very bittersweet, but I think being together is very healing.”
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT