Ralph Cirella, Howard Stern’s dear companion and long-lasting beautician who showed up as a supporter of Harsh’s public broadcast, kicked the bucket yesterday after a fight with an interesting lymphoma. He was 58
A profound Harsh made the declaration today on his SiriusXM public broadcast. Harsh said Cirella’s “heart gave out” Tuesday early daytime during a method as he was being treated for the lymphoma.
“I simply have been so miserable thus furious,” Harsh proceeded. “He didn’t deal with himself.”
“I will miss him frightfully,” Harsh said on the episode generally gave to recognitions of Cirella, adding “I can’t completely accept that we’re saying it, yet this person was my man and he resembles the sibling I won’t ever have.”
“I think this is the toughest part of loving someone — when you lose them,” Stern said. “Lord knows I loved Ralph. My wife said to me last night, ‘You and Ralph have a secret language’ and it’s true … we had a great chemistry, and we had a great friendship, and Ralph was one of my bros. In fact, I came to think of Ralph as family.”
Cirella first called into Stern’s WNBC show in 1985 with his mother, and eventually was hired to do special effects on Stern’s late-night variety program The Channel 9 Show. “He was a tremendously talented guy,” Stern said. “Ralph would make these elaborate prosthetics like in the movies or like on Saturday Night Live and he’d do them for zero money.”
Stern recounted how, when Cirella offered some constructive criticism on Stern’s appearance, the radio jock hired him as a stylist. “Some of the most fun I’ve had with Ralph is when … we’d be going through my closet, he’d be picking out my clothing … and then he’d go, ‘Alright, take your pants off now.’ It’s just so stupid and it’s killing me I’ll never hear that again.”
Stern also said his marriage to wife Beth Ostrosky wouldn’t have happened without Cirella, who one night insisted Stern accompany him to a party, where Stern “met the person I love in this world the most, Beth.”
Stern’s co-host Robin Quivers also paid tribute, calling Cirella “a true friend” who consoled her after a romantic break-up. “He just said, ‘F*ck that guy … you don’t spend a second feeling bad about this.’ He was just that kind of guy … Ralph was Team Robin.”