Ryan Paevey Shares Hope & Heartbreak in Update With Fans

Heavy/Getty Hallmark alum Ryan Paevey pictured alongside a white ribbon, the symbol for lung cancer awareness

Nearly two months after confirming his decision to step away from acting via an exclusive statement to Heavy, longtime Hallmark star Ryan Paevey provided updates about his mom’s health and his future during an Instagram Live session with fans on August 9, 2024.

In the statement Paevey issued in June, he said that his decision to leave the entertainment industry for the foreseeable future was prompted by a combination of disheartening experiences as an actor and the need to help care for his mom, who’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. In place of his acting career, he said he looked forward to expanding his jewelry and apparel business, Fortunate Wanderer, and filming upcoming travel adventures for a future YouTube channel.

But fans have been clamoring ever since for more information so, hours after he posted an Instagram Story on August 9 about his plan to chat live from his San Diego studio that afternoon, over 1,200 fans gathered online to type in questions for Paevey, 39. For more than 90 minutes, Paevey answered as many questions as he could, including sharing the difficult news that his mom is dealing with Stage 4 lung cancer.

Paevey, who called himself a “former actor” during the Instagram Live, also worried some fans in attendance by predicting a lonely future for himself, but offered a glimmer of hope about a eventual return to acting.

Ryan Paevey Details Life as a Caregiver for His Mom

Ryan Paevey in 2020’s “Matching Hearts”

During his Instagram Live, Paevey revealed new details about his mom’s cancer battle and how they’re facing it.

“Yeah, my mom’s stage four,” he told fans. “Lung cancer. It is [expletive], but we’re doing what we can do. We’re fighting it. She’s just on Medicare. It’s not like, you know, I don’t have some secret rich guy Hollywood insurance that I can give my mother. We’re in the dregs.”

“She’s doing okay,” he continued. “You know, families go through stuff like this, and we’re doing what we can … I take her for walks, we annoy the [expletive] out of each other. The roles have reversed. Now I stand there and I’m like, ‘Three more bites and you can be done. But two of them have to have protein. Turkey sandwich — two bites of that, that’s just bread. Two more bites, that didn’t count. [Expletive] no, no. Two more bites with turkey. I need to see you consume protein and then we go for a walk.'”

Paevey said that several years ago, he had a feeling his mom’s health would take a turn and he felt compelled to move closer to her, from Los Angeles to San Diego.

“You know, we all get to a phase in our life where something comes for us,” he explained. “My mom’s been a smoker my whole life. I knew something was coming. So, yeah, I mean, my journey down here to San Diego, (when) I left Los Angeles, began a few years ago.”

Paevey continued, “(She) just would never go to the doctor, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, and I knew something was wrong. Anytime you hug somebody and you hear the way they breathe? I
was just like, ‘Holy [expletive], man, that sounds like chain link fence on a gravel parking lot.’ So I kind of began thinking about the relocation, and then events in my own life transpired that maybe accelerated the timetable a little bit.”

As part of his role as a caregiver, Paevey said he’s been pulling together all the information he can about his mom’s diagnosis and treatment options.

“I love science stuff,” he said. “I have done a significant amount of research recently about cancer and about, you know, treatments and things like that, and found it to be very edifying and interesting.”

Fans Concerned About Ryan Paevey’s Assessment That He’ll Grow Old Alone

Witnessing his mom’s battle has reinvigorated Paevey’s desire to stay healthy by eating well and being active, he said, adding that he quit smoking about 11 years ago and cut way back on his alcohol consumption when he moved to San Diego.

But the “Unleashing Mr. Darcy” star also worried some fans attending his Instagram Live when he gave a bleak assessment of his future, assuming that he’ll grow old alone.

“I’ve thought a lot about, you know, the things that I put into my into my body,” he said, “because it’s shaping up to look like there isn’t going to be anybody around when I’m old, so I need to be
healthy and then (just) drop.”

Earlier in his session with fans, he said something similar by predicting, “My existence is going to be kind of a sad one. I sort of exist to be consumed by the people that I love, and then at some point I’ll just expire. That’s kind of what it’s looking like right now.”

Fans attending his Instagram Live session flooded the chat section with encouragement, including one who wrote, “Sorry you’re obviously going through some hardships, but looks like a bunch of people really care about you. Hugs!”

Ryan Paevey Gives Fans Hope He Might Return to Acting in a ‘Couple Years’

GettyRyan Paevey (far right) attended a Hallmark holiday screening event in 2022 with fellow Hallmark actors Jonathan Bennett, George Krissa, Rachel Boston, Erin Cahill, Nikki DeLoach, Andrew Walker, and Ginna Claire Mason.

Paevey,  who starred in 16 Hallmark movies between 2016 and 2023, according to IMDb,  reiterated during his Instagram Live session that he has no plans to pursue acting roles in the near future.

When one fan asked whether he had any Christmas movies lined up, he replied, “I’m not going to be in Christmas movies this year. No, I can’t work with them, and they don’t want to work with me.”

It’s not clear what Paevey meant by that, but after his June statement about backing away from acting, a rep for Hallmark Media told Heavy, “We’re very sorry for all that Ryan is going through and our thoughts are with him in his effort to take care of himself as well as his mother and we wish him well.”

Paevey did give fans a bit of hope about an eventual return to acting, though, as he reminisced during the Instagram Live about some of his favorite Hallmark roles.

“I’ve gotten to travel to some beautiful places,” he recalled. “I loved doing ‘Two Tickets (to Paradise)’ because Hawaii has my heart and I hope I end up there someday. And, I mean, ‘Christmas at the Plaza’  and ‘Timeless Christmas’ I got to do with (Hallmark director) Ron Oliver. I don’t know, man, like, I’ve had really, really good experiences.”

However, he added, “I’m a little disenfranchised with Hollywood right now, so I’m gonna do something different for a while. A couple years, maybe. I need a life palette cleanser.”