Rob Delaney Welcomes Fourth Child Months After Son Henry’s Death

Actor and comedian Rob Delaney revealed in a new interview that his wife gave birth to their fourth child this past summer, just months after the death of their son, Henry.

The Catastrophe star told the Sunday Times Magazine over the weekend that his wife, Leah, gave birth to their fourth child, a son, this past August — almost eight months following the passing of their 2-year-old son, Henry, who died of a brain tumor last January.

The couple announced their son’s death a month later and confirmed they were expecting in June. However, the two were conflicted about even having another child with Delaney telling the Sunday Times they went through a wide range of feelings.

“We likely would’ve had a fourth anyway. But I mean, there’s mixed feelings,” Delaney admitted. “It’s sort of like they touch each other a little bit, but they almost exist in separate lanes. Having another child in no way, shape or form eases the grief of Henry dying. But also having Henry dying doesn’t make our new son any less magical.”

Delaney said of his love for their unborn child that he wanted to “gobble him up” because he deserved their full attention, considering he grew in the same womb as Henry. But the doting dad admitted to being paranoid at times, especially after Henry started throwing up when he was just 9 months old.

“That wouldn’t be fair on our kids,” he said, adding how he was “terrified of anyone vomiting.”

“It’s like PTSD,” he said. “If anyone vomits, I think: oh, that must be a brain tumor, and I have to calm down.”

In the interview, Delaney goes on to compare the grief he felt over Henry to his battle with alcoholism.

“For me, getting sober some years ago, and then dealing with depression after being sober for a while, those were kicking around the football on a dusty pitch that was the warm-up for the f—ing World Cup of losing a child,” he said.

Delaney went on to say how he was “grateful” for being tenderized and slapped around by life, adding “because I’m barely surviving this, and I think those things might be making the difference. So thank goodness they happened.”

Henry, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2016 and underwent surgery in 2017 to remove it, died at home after it returned that year. The 2-year-old was surrounded by family in what Delaney disclosed was “really special.”

On Wednesday, a day after Christmas, Delaney took to Twitter to pen an emotional message to fans revealing how he and his wife Leah, as well as their two older sons, spent Christmas almost a year after Henry passed.

“Our first Christmas without Henry came & went,” Delaney wrote. “The day itself was okay, maybe because there were so many horrible, painful days leading up to it; we must have hit our quota or something. We talked about him a lot & included his memory throughout the day.

“I speak publicly about Henry in an effort to destigmatize grief,” he continued. “My family is sad & in pain because our beautiful 2 yr old boy died after a long illness. Why wouldn’t we be sad? Why wouldn’t we be angry and confused?”

“Tweets like this aren’t therapeutic to me, nor are they ‘updates’. I just want other bereaved parents & siblings to feel seen/heard/respected/loved. And maybe they might help someone not schooled in grief support a friend better. I don’t know,” he wrote in a third tweet, going on to share a photo of Henry.

In the months since his son’s death, Delaney has frequently reflected on his loss. Including tributes to Henry on momentous days like Father’s Day, Delaney has also opened up about Henry’s battle with cancer in a book that he began writing shortly after his son’s diagnosis.

Photo credit: Twitter / Rob Delaney