{"id":12936,"date":"2026-07-21T21:40:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=12936"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:40:45","slug":"lucy-hale-mourns-sudden-passing-of-father-and-reveals-his-heartbreaking-parting-gift-to-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=12936","title":{"rendered":"Lucy Hale Mourns &#8216;Sudden Passing&#8217; Of Father &#8211; And Reveals His Heartbreaking &#8216;Parting Gift&#8217; To Her"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><strong>Lucy Hale<\/strong>\u2018s father, <strong>Preston Hale<\/strong>, has sadly passed away.<\/p>\n<p>The<em> Pretty Little Liars<\/em> alum shared the heartbreaking news on her <strong>Instagram<\/strong> on Monday while uploading a carousel of family photos. She reflected:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing this, but my sweet daddy suddenly passed away on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to his obituary, he was 68. So very sad.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/perezhilton.com\/liam-payne-friend-cleared-in-death-case-investigators-not-done\/\"><strong>Related: Liam Payne Death Case Update: Roger Nores\u2019 Fate In Investigation Determined<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Memphis, Tennessee born-and-raised actress went on to reflect:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMy dad was mind-numbingly funny, sensitive, and deeply kind. He adored his family, my step sisters, all his grandbabies, his dogs (and mine), his lifelong friends, and my stepmom, <strong>Stacy \u2014 <\/strong>the love of his life. He was so proud of his career in farming and of his hometown in Milan, Tennessee. A true Southern man with a genuine soul and a love for fishing, hunting, golfing, and farming. I will miss buying him bass pro shop gift cards.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Awww. For those unaware, the largest <strong>Bass Pro Shop<\/strong> in the world is located at the iconic <strong>Memphis Pyramid<\/strong> \u2014 a 20-30 minute drive from where Preston raised Lucy and her sister.<\/p>\n<p>She continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAnd he unconditionally loved me and my sister. He never judged. Our relationship took on many forms over the years, and through it all was a deep soul bond. Our last conversation was beautiful. The last time I saw him was beautiful. Our last phone call was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We\u2019re so, so glad she had such lovely final moments with him!<\/p>\n<p>Lucy is also deeply grateful that her sister <strong>Maggie<\/strong> was visiting her when they found out the devastating news:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMy sister Maggie happened to be in town visiting me in LA when we got the call. She was sitting no more than three feet away from me. That\u2019s something only God and my dad could have orchestrated. I can\u2019t imagine receiving that call alone or walking through these first surreal days by myself. I got to be with my sister. He knew I needed her. Thank you, Daddy, for that parting gift.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The 37-year-old continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMy spirituality and my beliefs are bringing me comfort right now. I know my dad isn\u2019t gone \u2014 he\u2019s simply taken a different form. I\u2019ll look for him everywhere, and I know without a doubt that he\u2019ll stay with us. He\u2019ll keep surprising us, sending little signs, and somehow still making us belly laugh.<\/p>\n<p>You are a legend, Daddy. Thank you for the lessons, the memories, the unconditional love, and for being the exact father I needed in this life. I\u2019ll love you in this lifetime and all the others.<\/p>\n<p>Watch over us. Rest easy<\/p>\n<p>And please say a prayer for my step mom Stacy as she navigates this incredibly difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DbCPgAsmo-2\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He sounds like a lovely man. We\u2019re sending this entire family lots of love as they mourn this unexpected passing. May he rest in peace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"image_cite\"><em>[Image via <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Lucy Hale\/<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lucy Hale\u2018s father, Preston Hale, has sadly passed away. The Pretty Little Liars alum shared the heartbreaking news on her Instagram on Monday while uploading a carousel of family photos. She reflected: \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing this, but my sweet daddy suddenly passed away on Friday.\u201d According to his obituary, he was 68. So&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/perezhilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lucy-hale-father-dead.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}