Vanessa Hudgens is mourning the loss of her father, Gregory Hudgens, who has lost his battle with stage four cancer. The 27-year-old actress announced the sad news Sunday morning, just hours before she's expected to appear in the high anticipated production of Fox's "Grease Live."
"I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers," the 27-year-old actress wrote on Twitter Sunday.
Hudgens, who will be playing Rizzo in tonight's production of "Grease: Live," is dedicating her performance to her late father. "Tonight, I do the show in his honor," she also wrote on Twitter.
Last week, Hudgens revealed that her father's health was not progressing and asked fans for their prayers. Greg Hudgens leaves behind his wife Gina and two daughters Stella and Vanessa.
The former Disney darling and "High School Musical" alum first opened up about her father's illness in an emotional acceptance speech for Breakthrough Performer at the 2015 Industry Dance Awards & Cancer Benefit Show last August.
"If you would have asked me two years ago what I thought of cancer, I would have said, 'Man, you know it sucks. It's a horrible disease,' but that's only because I had not been faced with it personally," Hudgens said.
"Last year, my boyfriend, Austin [Butler], lost his mom, Lori, to cancer, and my dad has just been recently diagnosed with stage four cancer," she added. "Let me tell you, I hate cancer. I hate cancer with every cell of my being ... This award, it means a lot to me, but I dedicate it to my boyfriend's mom, Lori, my dad, and to all the families out there who are struggling with this, because it really takes a strong person and a strong family to be able to help those out who are going through this."
"Grease: Live," also starring Aaron Tveit, Julianne Hough, and Carly Rae Jepsen, among others, is still set to air despite the rainy Los Angeles weather, executive producer Mark Platt told The Hollywood Reporter.
"We're going live rain or shine and we're excited to do so," Platt said about the three-hour special. "We won't do anything that isn't safe, ever. Safety always comes first, but I'm sure we'll be fine to do the outside portions."
"Obviously, we try to be smart about how we prepare because we did want to be outside, rain or shine, and we've been preparing this for many months," he added. "We hope that we've planned intelligently. That's what makes live TV exciting - the unknown! So we're going for it. It is live TV, so if you're interested to see how it looks rain or shine, tune in."
"Grease: Live" will air tonight at 7 p.m. on Fox.
My daddy and I ❤️❤️❤️ Please pray for his healing!!! The more prayers the better.
A photo posted by Vanessa Hudgens (@vanessahudgens) on Jul 27, 2015 at 10:06am PDT
