Celebrity News June 22, 2020
Magician Criss Angel Opens Up About His Son’s Cancer Battle Amid COVID-19 Outbreak
Shaunyl Benson/Instagram
Criss Angel and his family are taking the COVID-19 pandemic very seriously as his son Johnny Crisstopher, 6, continues to battle leukemia.
Angel, who has two sons with Shaunyl Benson, opened up to “Extra's” Charissa Thompson about how the family is doing and explaining that they were already taking extra measures to ensure Johnny's safety.
Criss, whose RAW tour is currently on hold, told Charissa, “We are doing really, really well considering the circumstances. Everything is going as good as can be expected.”
He continued, “Kids that are going through pediatric cancer obviously have the challenge of dealing with that, but when you underscore that with the pandemic, it's really a double threat, and families that have gone through pediatric cancer have been practicing handwashing… sanitizing areas when you go to a restaurant and social distancing. Usually your child has immune system deficiencies… and for Johnny Crisstopher and other children going through what he's going through, it can be dire, life-threatening.”
They aren't taking any chances. “We've been hunkering down at home and doing the quarantine thing because we don't want to take any chances with our son except when he goes to the hospital for a blood transfusion,” Angel said. “He goes to Cure 4 the Kids Las Vegas two to three times a week. We have been spending a lot of time as a family… trying to provide incredible memories for Johnny Christopher and our other son Xristos Yanni, so when they get older they can think about these times that were challenging but we made something positive.”
He continued, “I've been working on Johnny Crisstopher's and Xristos Yanni's miniature world, a slot car, and a train set, and we've gotten so crazy into this.” You can see a sweet moment from their time at home below, as they celebrated Father's Day on Sunday.
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Angel is helping other cancer families during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Cure 4 the Kids has been a wonderful pediatric clinic here, but because of the COVID-19 virus, they lost their job and they had to make really [hard] decisions that no one should ever be faced with… 'Am I going to buy a drug to treat my son or daughter or am I going to put food on the table?' So the Johnny Crisstopher Children's Charitable Foundation… we basically did over 50,000 meals for 150 families for approximately eight weeks. We were trying to help these families in our community with this very difficult situation that they're in.”
Learn more about the foundation here.
The star also hopes he can get back to work in Las Vegas soon, saying, “I think that I will be part of the first phase of reopening entertainment, but it might not be at Planet Hollywood… I'm anxious to get out there to give people the opportunity to escape.”
