Howard Stern’s stylist and close friend Ralph Cirella has died.
He was 58.
Stern announced his friend’s death on “The Howard Stern Show” this week, saying that Cirella was undergoing treatment for “rare lymphoma” and his “heart gave out,” Deadline reported.
Cirella died Tuesday morning.
Stern said that Cirella had gotten treatment for the condition too late.
“The illness he got was curable and was treatable, but he had some complications of waiting too long, and I got very upset with him,” the radio host said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Still despite knowing that Cirella was sick, his death caught Stern by surprise.
“I was not ready for Ralph to go. I was not expecting Ralph to die,” he said.
Cirella joined Stern when he called the shock jock on WNBC radio in 1985, Deadline reported. He eventually was hired for Stern’s late-night variety show and then became the celebrity’s personal stylist, wardrobe consultant and set designer.
He even was a host in his own right on “The Friday Show” and would continue to appear on Stern’s main show.
Cirella is credited by Stern for meeting his wife, encouraging him to attend a party where Stern met Beth Ostrosky.
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