After 20 Years Since John Ritter’s Passing, His Wife Still Refuses to Date Other People

John Ritter provided his fans and colleagues with so much laughter over the course of his career that his sudden passing in 2003 left a giant hole in many hearts. But no one has been hurting as much as his widow, Amy Yasbeck, who to this day remains faithful to the late love of her life and has a good reason for it.

John Ritter was everyone’s beloved TV actor.

Ritter’s first big TV breakthrough happened on the Three’s Company, a beloved sitcom about three single roommates that ran from 1977 to 1984. The actor’s charisma on the show was undeniable and even landed him a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. His next big career move on television was 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter, later renamed into 8 Simple Rules due to the actor’s untimely death.

One of the most influential roles for Ritter that vastly affected his personal life was as Ben Healy Jr. in the famous comedy Problem Child in 1990 and its sequel. John’s co-star in the films was Amy Yasbeck, who became his second wife and was, arguably, his soulmate.

John and Amy’s love story was one for lifetime.

When Ritter met Yasbeck on the set of Problem Child, he was married to his first wife Nancy Morgan. The couple were married from 1977 until 1996 and had three children together: Jason, Carly, and Tyler. The timeline of John and Amy’s relationship isn’t exactly known, but what we do know is that they married in 1999, just a year after welcoming a child together.

After getting married, Amy and John lived in complete bliss, but their happiness was cut short in 2003 when he passed away due to a heart attack. Four years together weren’t enough for the couple and to this day, Yasbeck is inconsolable and misses him dearly.

In 2022, nearly two decades since losing John, Amy said she still couldn’t move on and refused the idea of dating: “I don’t date... 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.”

Ritter’s sudden passing hit hard.

The late actor’s family wasn’t the only one affected by his death. Over the course of his career, he had touched so many lives that the pain of his absence resonated in many of his colleagues. His on-screen son in Scrubs Zach Braff called him a “comic hero”, while John’s Three’s Company co-star Joyce DeWitt said he was “impossible to forget. Impossible not to love”.

The loss of John also greatly affected his last show 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter. He started experiencing severe problems with his heart in 2003 while rehearsing one of the episodes. Ritter was rushed to the hospital, but his conditioned worsened and, ultimately, the doctors couldn’t save him. Since he played the main role on the show, the writers had to include his character’s sudden on-screen death, which continued to affect the entire plot for the rest of the series’ run.

Amy still holds dear her late husband’s legacy.

In 2010, Yasbeck wrote a heartfelt book in her late husband’s honor titled With Love and Laughter, John Ritter, which is how he used to sign his autograph for fans. Amy explained that after losing John so suddenly, she greatly struggled with grief, so she channelled all her emotions into writing and documenting the process of healing and being a mother at the same time. She also noted that the book is a combination of biography and self-help.

Amy also established The John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health to help raise awareness for aortic dissection, which was her husband’s ultimate cause of death. The love Yasbeck had for John Ritter and her ongoing faithfulness to him remind us of the late Steve Irwin and his wife Terri. Terri Irwin also went through a sudden loss of the love of her life, and while her children encourage her to date again, their efforts remain unsuccessful.