The wife of actor James Ransone is honoring her late husband with a bittersweet throwback.
Jamie McPhee, known to her friends as “Skipper,” paid tribute to Ransone on Sunday with a photo on Instagram showing the couple as they were preparing for the arrival of one of their two children, Jack, now 6, and Violet, 4.
“I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again,” McPhee wrote in the caption of her post. “You told me – I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me – and you were so right.”
She went on to note, “Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts – you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.”
McPhee’s post drew an outpouring of condolences from some of Ransone’s famous friends.
“Love you with everything I got and holding our beloved brilliant peejo with grace gratitude and cosmic peace into this life and the next – family forever,” Natasha Lyonne, who co-starred with Ransone on an episode of “Poker Face,” wrote. “beautiful jamie you are the best of us we love you.”
Emma McIntyre via Getty Images
Actor Julia Fox also commented: “Giving you the biggest virtual hug and I hope you are wrapped in warmth and love. we got your back with whatever you need.”
Meanwhile, a family friend launched a GoFundMe fundraiser in support of McPhee and her children, which had raised more than $114,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Ransone, a Maryland native best known for his roles on “The Wire” and in “It: Chapter Two,” died last Friday at age 46. He and McPhee, who worked as a copywriter, had been married since 2017.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, Ransone’s cause of death was an apparent suicide.
Prior to his death, the actor had been outspoken about his experiences with drug and alcohol addiction, noting that he’d developed substance abuse issues after having been sexually abused as a child.
“There were a lot of things going on inside me that I hadn’t faced, or at the very least, refused to acknowledge for a long time. There were a lot of hard corners in me that needed to be softened,” Ransone wrote in a 2009 essay for Malibu magazine, per US Weekly. “I had no idea what the results were going to be as far as taking some responsibility for my past, but the outcome has been pretty remarkable.”
In a 2016 Interview profile, he said he got sober “six or seven months before” working on the HBO miniseries “Generation Kill,” which aired in 2008.
If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.
