Criss Angel Shares Heart-Tugging Photos Documenting 1-Year-Old Son's Cancer Battle Amid News He's Secretly Married
Criss Angel (Getty Images)
Sadly, what is going on with Criss Angel is no illusion.
The Las Vegas magician is in the middle of a family emergency with his 1-year-old son, Johnny, recently being diagnosed with cancer. This personal crisis has also turned up the news that Angel is secretly married to the boy’s mother, Australian singer/songwriter Shaunyl Benson.
After Angel canceled some of the dates of his Criss Angel BeLIEve residency at the Luxor in Sin City — he had never missed a show in more than 3,000 performances — news came that his young son, whom he never spoke of publicly, was fighting the disease. The outpouring of support he received prompted Angel to take to social media to thank his fans for their support and share heartbreakingly sweet photos of the beautiful, big-eyed boy.
“Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers,” Angel captioned this photo from Oct. 23 in which he’s holding his sleeping babe. (Instagram)
On Monday, he shared a second photo in which he’s holding Johnny in a hospital setting. He wrote, “4th day chemo treatment - Johnny & I can’t thank u enough for the overwhelming outpouring of love, prayers & support #amazing #curecancer."
A photo of Angel and his little angel posted on Oct. 26 (Instagram)
He also posted a family photo including Benson with a similar caption on Twitter. They are on either side of their little fighter, who is resting on a hospital bed in a Mickey Mouse shirt.
Angel with his wife, Shaunyl Benson, and their son (Twitter)
Amid this personal drama, TMZ reports that Angel and Benson secretly tied the knot around Valentine’s Day. This wasn’t news that Angel, whose first marriage ended in divorce, wanted to be made public. The website also dug up an interview he did with a Cleveland radio station just three weeks ago in which he was asked if he was married and had kids. He said no to both questions, bizarrely giving long, detailed answers to each question.
Benson also described herself as a single mother in a feature on the website called The Best Gift of Life. “It’s just me and him in our little apartment,” she said. “I’m a single mother and the bond between us is like no other.”
Angel’s denials are hard to believe when these photos clearly show that he is a proud family man. We can only assume that he had a good reason — and it’s probably a complicated one. And all we can do is just wish him well during this very difficult time.
