Megan Hilty is mourning her pregnant sister, brother-in-law and niece after they died in a floatplane crash Sunday.
The “Smash” alum’s family members were three of the 10 passengers on board the aircraft that went down in Puget Sound in Washington, the US Coast Guard confirmed Tuesday.
A search for the nine passengers and pilot Jason Winters recovered one unidentified female body before being called off Monday.
It is unclear what led to the crash.
Lauren Hilty’s husband Ross Mickel’s family told a local news outlet that their “collective grief is unimaginable.”
The statement continued, “We are deeply saddened and beyond devastated at the loss of our beloved Ross Mickel, Lauren Hilty, [their daughter] Remy and their unborn baby boy, Luca.”
The Washington State Wine Commission honored Mickel with a statement of its own, as he had owned Ross Andrew Wineries since 1999.
“Ross had an incredible impact on the Washington wine community, and he will be greatly missed,” the statement read.
Megan, 41, has yet to publicly react to the tragedy.
The Tony nominee also has a sister named Kristen Hilty. The three siblings vacationed in Australia with their parents in June 2019.
“🎶 We are fa-mi-ly 🎶 I got all my sisters (and my Mom & Dad) with me! 🎶,” Megan captioned a family selfie on Instagram at the time. “I can’t believe in two days I’ll be singing at the Sydney Opera House!!! And to make it even better, I’ve got my family here to experience this Australian adventure with me!”
The Broadway star has two children of her own, starting her family with husband Brian Gallagher after they tied the knot in November 2013.
The couple welcomed daughter Viola, now 7, and son Ronan, now 5, in September 2014 and March 2017, respectively.
While having children was not part of Megan’s initial “plan,” she told her Instagram followers in May 2019 that she changed her mind after meeting Gallagher.
“I always had this thought in my head that there was no room in my life for anything other than my career and I was so SO wrong,” she explained.
“Life never turns out quite how you expect it to. I am in a constant polarizing state of feeling overwhelmingly grateful to work and a deep sense of longing to be home.”
Leave a Reply