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Vanessa Hudgens Pays Tribute to Her Late Dad One Year After His Death: “He’s My Angel”
Vanessa Hudgens lost her father but gained an angel.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of her dad, Greg Hudgens, and the High School Musical star took to social media to pay a touching tribute to her late father, who lost his battle with cancer.
“He's my angel looking down on me and I know how proud he is. I keep trucking on but still feel his presence in my heart. And there he will forever stay,” the 28-year-old captioned a photo on Instagram.
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Back in 2015, Vanessa asked fans to pray for her father after she revealed that he was suffering from stage 4 cancer. She opened up about his diagnosis while accepting the award for Breakthrough Performer at the 2015 Industry Dance Awards & Cancer Benefit Show. During her speech, she dedicated the award to her dad and her boyfriend Austin Butler’s mother, Lori Butler, who passed away from the disease a year prior.
"If you would have asked me two years ago what I thought of cancer, I would have said, 'Man, you know, it sucks. It's a horrible disease,’” Vanessa said during her speech. “But that's only because I had not been faced with it personally."
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Unfortunately, Greg lost his battle with cancer last January, a day before his daughter was set to star in FOX’s TV special Grease: Live. She announced his passing on social media, but instead of pulling out of the show at the last minute, she dedicated her performance to him.
“I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers,” she wrote on Twitter. “Tonight, I do the show in his honor.”
