After actor Christopher Reeve's horse riding accident in 1995, there were definitely tough days, but family dinners always remained "happy" and full of joy, Christopher's youngest son, Will Reeve, recalls. Regardless of what was going on at the time, family dinners were a time for anything but "specific medical stuff," Will told Good Morning America on September 16, 2024. "Whether it was good news, bad news, scary news, dinner was family time," Will, 32, explained. "My mom would cook, (and my mom and dad) sat at the head, next to each other. My mom would feed him and herself."
His family retained a sense of normalcy every night by focusing on anything but Christopher's medical issues during dinner. "We had friends dropping by. It was a very happy, robust, loud, everything you would want from a family dinner, and that was every night," Will explained to Good Morning America.
He added that "the one thing you weren't allowed to talk about was specific medical stuff. Could be anything else."
Will was only 2 years old when an equestrian accident left his dad Christopher paralyzed. Christopher died nine years later at the age of 52. Will was 12 years old. His mom, Dana Reeve, died 17 months later. He told People that he received a lot of support from neighbors, his maternal grandparents, friends, and his older half siblings, Matthew and Alexandra, after losing both of his parents when he was still a child.
Still, the amount of support and care he received from his loved ones didn't change the fact that he had lost both of his parents.
More from LittleThings: Melissa Rivers Opens Up About How Her Dad's Suicide Damaged Her Relationship With Mom Joan
In the new documentary about his dad's life, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, the actor, producer, and ABC correspondent said, "Despite the love and security that my siblings provided me, and my family provided me, and my adoptive family provides me, that was the moment, March 6, 2006 … I've been alone since then," he told Good Morning America.
He will always miss his parents, and he'll never completely get over the grief that came from losing them, Will explained to People.
"Grief is permanent," he told the publication. "The people we love who we lose are gone forever from this earth, but we carry their memories, their spirit, and their values with us forever."
One of the things he misses the most about his mom is the way she was "always singing," Will told Good Morning America. The very "normal" moments, like family dinners and his mom's singing, are among his most treasured memories in retrospect.
"Hindsight is 20/20, but I wish that I had asked her to sing more, because when I think about her, that's where I go … the quiet moments of safety and happiness and normalcy and togetherness," Will told Good Morning America.