Kaitlan Collins Battles Tears Interviewing Man Who Lost Wife and Daughter in D.C. Plane Crash: ‘I Want People to Have a Memory of Them’
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins fought back tears on Monday as she interviewed Andy Beyer, a man who lost his wife and daughter in the recent Washington, D.C. plane crash.
More than 60 people died when a military helicopter collided with a civilian aircraft last month. Beyer’s wife Justyna and his 12-year-old figure skater daughter Brielle were on board the civilian plane.
A tearful Beyer told Collins he was waiting at the airport with his son and texting his wife when he saw firetrucks go by and began to feel something was wrong. Beyer explained he was joining the show to share the stories of his late wife and daughter, the latter of whom battled cancer early in her life.
“We were living our dream and she was like the dream girl that you could ask for. My son is a dream son too, but she was just the dream girl from the moment that I met her. And she just kept exceeding our expectations from the time she was a baby to the time she was reading chapter books at age three to how she excelled at figure skating,” he said.
Beyer tearfully called his daughter a “joy and a gift” and his wife his “soulmate” as Collins choked back her own tears and listened.
Check out the exchange below:
ANDY BEYER: Everyone dies, right? And they live on through our memories and I want people to have a memory of them so they live on so that’s why I wanted to share their story.
KAITLAN COLLINS: Thank you for doing so, Andy, and I think everyone will be really touched to hear from you so thank you, thank you for coming on to talk about that.
BEYER: Thank you for sharing their story. I could talk to you all day about them, and I know we haven’t talked about my wife, but she was the most wonderful mother. She wanted to make every moment special for the kids and she did. She gave them those magic memories, you know? Brielle too, and we thought that would sustain her into adulthood, that she’d be able to draw from them so it’s really sad she doesn’t get to do that. She deserved that. But [my wife], she was my soulmate. I’m going to miss her so much.
COLLINS: You’re clearly both amazing parents, Andy, and I just want you to know that everyone is praying for you and thinking of you in this moment. I know that doesn’t help, but everyone is just really thinking of you guys in this moment so thank you for joining me.
BEYER: I just want to say one last thing if I can, which is the community and all of my close friends and family, everyone has stepped up in such a big way and it is what is keeping me going and I know I haven’t been able to reach out and thank people, but I want to thank people for that, for everything that everyone is doing for me. It has been so helpful. It’s the only thing keeping me going. They’ve been helping me with my son who has been having playdates so he can live in the moment and it’s really the thing that’s saving us right now so thank you.
Watch above via CNN.
