Zachary Levi’s Heartbreaking Update About His Dad

Zachary Levi is asking for prayers for his father. The Shazam! actor, 42, took to Twitter this week to share that his father, Papa D, is “not long for this world” as he’s being treated in the hospital for a kind of thyroid cancer that “just won’t quit.” Levi broke the news on Twitter in response to a fan asking him what he was up to. 

“Sittin in my dad’s hospital room with him. He’s not doin so hot right now,” he responded. “The thyroid cancer just won’t quit, and is slowly overtaking his trachea.” While the Chuck actor noted that doctors “may have a trick or two still up their sleeves to offer him a bit more time,” his father is “not long for this world.”

When the same user that sparked the interaction asked what Levi needed in this moment, the Tangled star shared his thoughts about death and mortality. “I’m doin just fine, Alex, but thanks. Death does not sadden or frighten me,” he wrote in response. “It’s actually an incredibly powerful part of life. One that we’ll all reach one day. Where we get to go back to God, the source, and be surrounded by the highest vibration of energy, love.”

“But for anyone out there that feels like rollin up some spiritual sleeves and prayin, send some up for my pops,” Levi added. “Pray that he be as comfy and at peace as a man could get. And that he head home with no fear or regrets, knowing how loved he is.”

The star has shared updates on his father’s health before, writing on Instagram in November 2022 that his father had undergone surgery that was able to remove “90% of the cancer from his body.” Sharing a photo of his dad in the hospital, Levi wrote at the time, “HE LIVESSS!!! The surgery went very well, and the surgeons were able to remove 90% of the cancer from his body! PuuuhRAISE!!!”

“Thank you all for your continued and humbling show of love, and light, and thoughts, and prayers, and just overall intentional, positive energy that you have sent his, and our, way,” he continued in the caption. “It has meant more than any of these words can really say.” Levi’s hope at the time was that “between these new drugs targeting the remaining cancer in his body, and all the scrumptious, natural stuff we’re gonna be pumping him with, we can get him back to living his life, pimp walkin his way down the promenade in Ventura, puttin out the Papa-D vibezzz.”