“Sadly, it has another meaning to it [now], but, you know, I’m grateful — at least I have it still and I have memories of him,” the late actor’s ex-fiancée said
Tessa Farrell, Johnny Wactor’s former fiancée, is still reeling from his death.
The General Hospital alum was fatally shot by armed car thieves in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 25. He was 37.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight published on Tuesday, May 28, Farrell looked back at her and Wactor’s time together, which began after they met in 2013. She had just moved to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming an actress. The two became engaged shortly after, but ultimately ended their romantic relationship and were good friends when he died.
Farrell told ET’s Kevin Frazier that despite the breakup, she still has her engagement ring, which was an heirloom her grandparents — who were married for 50 years — passed down to her. She noted that she didn’t have a ring when she and Wactor became engaged. Instead, they let her grandparents’ piece serve as a symbol of their commitment to one another.
“It was a really beautiful moment, and I always — I had it on before and I always will have it on because it reminds me of, you know, true love or everlasting love,” Farrell told ET of her decision to continue wearing the ring. “Sadly, it has another meaning to it [now], but, you know, I’m grateful — at least I have it still and I have memories of him.”
Farrell confessed she hasn’t fully processed Wactor’s death, noting that when she first learned he had died, she thought he succumbed to a rock climbing accident. When she was informed of what happened, she experienced waves of shock and hope.
“I’m like, ‘Where did he get shot?’ You know? ‘Where is he right now? I wanna, you know, go see him or help,’ ” she told ET, adding of the person who called her with the news: “And she didn’t tell me initially where he got shot. She just said he didn’t make it. And at that point, there’s nothing I can, you know, nothing no one can say or do to change that.”
She remembered Wactor as a “good guy,” referencing reports that he was killed while attempting to shield a female co-worker from the gunmen.
“He was a very noble man and always did the right thing,” Farrell added. “And I’m not surprised by that at all because he was kind of the guy that would step up and do the right thing.”
She said she hopes supporters keep Wactor’s legacy alive by “doing the right thing.”
