‘Lizzie McGuire’ Star Robert Carradine’s Daughter Speaks out After His Death

Robert Carradine’s daughter, actress Ever Carradine, is paying tribute to her father following the news that the Lizzie McGuire star had died at age 71.

After Carradine’s family announced Monday to Deadline that the Revenge of the Nerds star had died by suicide following a “valiant struggle against his nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder,” the Handmaid’s Tale actress took to Instagram with memories of her dad.

“My dad died today,” Ever, 51, began her tribute. “My sweet, funny dad, who’s only 20 years older than I am, who never missed an opportunity to drive me to the airport or tell me how much he loved my homemade salad dressing, is gone.”

“If you knew my dad, you know he’s the guy that’s always there,” she continued. “Invite him to dinner? He’s in. Kid’s Little League game in Simi Valley, just tell him what time. Red eye flight and need a ride home from the airport, just text him your column number after you get your bags.”

While growing up in the 1970s and ’80s with a single dad in Laurel Canyon was “not exactly the recipe for a grounded childhood,” Ever wrote that “somehow [hers] was.”

“Whenever anyone asks me how I turned out so normal, I always tell them it’s because of my dad,” she shared. “I knew my dad loved me, I knew it deep in my bones, and I always knew he had my back. I think it’s partly because we basically grew up together.”

“Twenty years age difference really isn’t that much, and while I never ever thought of him as a sibling, I did always think of him as my partner,” she reminisced. “We were in it together. I never wanted to let him down, and I wanted him to trust that I had his back the same way that he had mine.”

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Ever learned many small lessons from her father — “never put a horse away wet, don’t let hose water dry on your car, change your own wiper blades and never wave a forced call” — but she also learned something “more foundational” than she ever understood, “and that was what a waste of time it is to hold a grudge.”

“My dad was a lover, not a fighter,” she wrote. “He was all heart, and in a world so full of conflict and division, I think we can all take a page out of his book today, open our hearts and feel and share the love.”

“I have a thousand stories and I’m being flooded with memories — so if you see me, please ask me about my dad, Bobby Carradine, who made me who I am,” she concluded. “Rest easy, dad. I love you the most.”