Ellen DeGeneres has paid tribute to Tayt Andersen, a frequent and much-loved child guest on her former daytime show who died on Friday at the age of 19, sharing a video remembrance and a brief message to his family as news of his death was announced on social media. “We had a very special guest on the show several times, and his name is Tayt,” DeGeneres said in a clip posted to Instagram. “He thought that I was his girlfriend, so I told him that he was my boyfriend, which shocked my wife. But he was a very special little human being, and just brought joy and life and laughter into every room that he was in. And I will miss him.” In a caption to the video she added, “I love you, Tayt. I love you, Chrissy. You touched so many lives.”
Andersen’s family said he died in the early hours of Sept. 26, writing in an announcement that he passed away peacefully “surrounded by the fierce love of his family.” The statement, posted to his Instagram account, read in part: “Our hearts are absolutely shattered as we share the news we never wanted to write: Our sweet, strong warrior, Tayt, was released from his bodily prison early this morning, at 1:30 a.m. CT… While our souls feel shattered and lost by this unimaginable grief, we are so thankful that Tayt is finally free. No more pain, no more appointments, no more treatments.” The family said he had been “so alert and responsive on Sunday,” but “after a long night, he finally found peace and drifted off to sleep around 4:00 a.m. Monday,” remaining asleep and unresponsive until he died on Friday morning. They asked followers to “keep Chrissy, Tayt, and our family in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate this crushing grief.”
A devoted viewer who became a fixture on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” during hospital stays and recoveries, Andersen was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe congenital defect sometimes described as being born “with half a heart.” His medical history included more than a dozen operations by his ninth birthday and a heart transplant at age 10. In his teens he developed post-transplant lymphoma, and in 2024, at 18, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. By June 2025, according to his family’s public updates and a fundraising page set up to assist with care, the cancer had spread to his pelvis, spine, abdomen, chest and neck. In the week before his death, loved ones said he “took a turn for the worse due to an infection” while already in a fragile state from treatment.
DeGeneres’s remembrance compiled clips from Andersen’s appearances, including segments that documented the role the program played in his long course of treatment. In one clip included in her video, his mother, Chrissy, explains how the show structured his days: “He will tell his doctors to go away until it’s over. He will make his nurses watch her with him. And therapy has to be scheduled around Ellen.” In another, filmed around the time of his transplant, Andersen tells the host he is excited at the prospect of “a new heart,” prompting DeGeneres to answer, “There aren’t too many people I’ve met that have a heart as good as yours that you have now… You’re an amazing guy. But if you wanna get a new heart, that’s okay with me.” The memorial video closes on a title card: “In loving memory of Tayt Andersen 10/4/05 – 9/26/25.”