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Maria Menounos is very close to her parents, mom Litsa and dad Costas. The television host will be helping out on New Year’s Eve, awaiting the ball drop in Times Square and it won’t be surprising if her mother and father are close by to ring in 2019 with their daughter.
Costas and Litsa are the proud parents of two children, Maria and her younger brother, Peter. The family lived together in Medford, Massachusetts, where Maria and Peter went to school. After college, Maria left her family and moved to California to pursue her career. Her parents eventually moved with her, but her brother stayed in Massachusetts, where he still resides today.
Here is what you need to know:
1. They Are Both of Greek Heritage
Litsa and Costas Menounos were both born in Greece. It was very important for them to bring their children up with knowledge of the Greek culture, teaching them the language and bringing them to the Orthodox church.
Less than a year after tying the knot with her longtime love, Keven Undergaro, Maria Menounos took her family to Greece — to her dad’s hometown of Akovos — to exchange vows in a Greek ceremony. It was something very special for Maria’s dad, who was overjoyed to see his daughter and her husband embrace the family’s roots.
“Love my dad so much. This was a dream for him. He was born and raised in Akovos. Though he’s the proudest American you will find, he is also equally proud of his roots. Growing up we saved all the spare change we found on the nightclub floors we cleaned in Boston to save up and visit Greece. It meant so much to him for us to be connected to our heritage, to know the language and the traditions. Both my parents wanted that. It took years but finally, we visited in 1988 when I was 10. I loved it. We spent almost a month in Akovos and it always held a special place in my heart. Returning to get married there was my wildest dream come true. All of our friends and family helped make it truly the most special moment of all our lives,” Maria captioned an Instagram post after exchanging vows in Greece.
“My dad gained 20 years of life, my Theio Niko, too. My poor dad got so sick a week before the wedding and we almost lost him. Luckily my friends and family helped him get better all while keeping me in the dark. This is why I feel so blessed. To have my parents at my wedding I know wasn’t easy between dads diabetes and moms cancer. I know many who weren’t as lucky and I will never take that for granted,” she added.
2. Litsa Had Brain Cancer
Maria Menounos is extremely close to her mom, Litsa. In 2017, Litsa received a terrifying cancer diagnosis and began her journey to beating Stage IV brain cancer.
Litsa underwent aggressive treatment and, as of July 2017, her MRI showed that her cancer was “stable,” according to People Magazine.
While Litsa was fighting cancer, Maria started having some concerning symptoms, including headaches, light-headedness, and slurred speech. She went to see her doctor and found out that she had a brain tumor. Fortunately, however, Maria’s tumor was benign.
“It’s so surreal and crazy and unbelievable that my mom has a brain tumor—and now I have one too?” Maria told People Magazine back in July 2017. “[My doctor] said, ‘I’m 98 percent sure it’s benign but we won’t know until we get in there.'”
After a seven-hour surgery, Maria’s doctor had some good news. He was able to remove 99.9 percent of the tumor — and testing proved that the tumor was indeed benign.
“He said there’s a six to seven percent chance that we’ll see it come back. But I’ll take those odds any day,” Maria said.
3. Costa Is a Type-1 Diabetic
Maria Menounos is equally close to her dad, Costas. He was diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes more than 50 years ago, and Maria has played the role of caretaker for her dad since she was fairly young.
“My father was pronounced dead and hospitalized due to low blood sugar attacks [multiple times] throughout my life. [My family and I] were all on guard and had him on constant watch. This remains his constant battle – to keep his sugar levels from dropping to dangerous lows,” the TV host told the Joslin Diabetes Center back in 2015.
It took a while for Costas to change his eating habits, partially because a language barrier kept him from properly communicating with his doctors and the other part due to him being a “stubborn Greek,” as Maria has explained.
These days, however, Costas has his condition under control. He has given up eating sugar and items such as bread and pasta. His diabetes journey has inspired Maria, who has become an advocate and has participated in a lot of charity work supporting diabetes research.
“Today I’m inspired by my own father who inspires me more and more every day. Dad, I love you more than words could ever describe. The way you have handled the toughest two years of our lives has blown me away. You flipped the switch so fast and went from being caretaken as a type 1 diabetic to caretaker. From being cooked for, to cooking for. And you cook insanely well may I add. Chef Costas! You have done it all and not only just for mom but also for me too. When I needed to heal you had to shoulder most of mom’s care alone and you did. You are a champion dad. You are a bright light in this world that makes us all laugh and smile. Here’s to many many more fathers days together,” Menounos captioned an Instagram post on Father’s Day earlier this year.
4. Things Haven’t Always Been Easy for the Menounos Family
Maria and her husband, Keven, are both very close to Maria’s parents, but things weren’t always this way. When Maria first started dating Keven, her parents just about disowned her, angry that she was dating an Italian man.
“It wasn’t an easy situation. He wasn’t Greek so my dad was very upset, pretty much disowned me, took my education away… I was now pretty much homeless, no education, no degree, but I had Keven,” Maria told AOL back in 2014.
Just before getting a big correspondent job, Maria and Keven had been living in an unfinished basement in Boston. It was Keven who produced and submitted an audition tape, of sorts, to a local news station, kicking off Maria’s wild ride to Hollywood. The two ended up moving to Los Angeles together, and soon after, Maria inked a deal with Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. It was only a matter of time before her parents came around.
“The rest was history. My parents came out to visit. My dad apologized to Keven which I think is such a sign of, I don’t know. I don’t know a lot of men that can actually say they’re sorry… It’s so hard to give the whole story but it was really tragic and really, really hard. We spent so many nights clinging to each other crying and it was terrible,” Maria told AOL.
Litsa and Costas Menounos are also parents to a son named Peter. Maria rarely talks about Peter, who still lives in Massachusetts. It’s unclear how close Peter is to his family or how often he sees them.
5. They Were on Menounos’ Reality Television Show
In 2014, Maria Menounos was offered her very own reality show. Chasing Maria Menounos aired for just one season on Oxygen. The show followed her day-to-day life, and included plenty of interaction with her now-husband Keven and both of her parents (and, of course, her dogs).
“Maria Menounos is used to finding out about celebrities’ lives when she interviews them as co-host of entertainment newsmagazine ‘Extra.’ Now it’s Menounos’ personal life taking center stage in this reality series. The confident, modern woman who came from humble beginnings lives with her longtime boyfriend, Keven, and traditional Greek immigrant parents Costas and Litsa. But as Maria reaches her mid 30s, the reality of getting older sets in, and she starts to rethink the way she wants to live. She questions whether she can continue to support her parents and friends who depend on her, while building a family with Keven and having a little fun along the way,” reads the show’s description on IMDb.
READ NEXT: Everything You Need to Know About Keven Undergaro & Maria Menounos’ Relationship
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Maria Menounos’ Mom & Dad: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know