“90 Day Fiancé” star Andrei Castravet honors late father-in-law Chuck Potthast; thanks Chuck for the “moments no one ever saw” on TV
Andrei Castravet opened up on Tuesday about the recent death of his father-in-law, Chuck Potthast, revealing that, despite often appearing as adversaries on TV, the two shared many great moments off-camera.
As The Ashley told you on Sunday, Andrei’s wife, Elizabeth Potthast, announced that her father– who was prominently featured on nearly all of the 90 Day Fiancé spinoffs that Elizabeth and Andrei have appeared on– passed away November 9 at the age of 64. In her post, Elizabeth told fans that her father’s tragic death had left her entire family “completely shattered.”
“My sweet, loving, and caring dad went to heaven,” she wrote. “We’re trying to figure out how to navigate our lives and move forward without him. Please respect our privacy during this extremely difficult time.”
On Tuesday, Elizabeth’s husband Andrei– who had many disagreements with Chuck on-camera over the years– posted a heartfelt video to social media “honoring a man who meant a lot to our family.”
“Chuck, my father-in-law who many of you knew from our TV series, has passed away a couple of weeks ago and it’s been incredibly, incredibly tough for us,” Andrei said. “Now, I know there’s been drama, tensions and storylines over the years, but what people saw on TV is just a tiny portion of our real relationship we had.
“What I can say is Chuck genuinely loved filming,” he continued. “He loved the energy, he loved the excitement, he really did. The connection of all of us, he loved people in general.”
While “90 Day Fiancé” often highlighted Andrei and Chuck’s challenging relationship, Andrei revealed this week that some of his best memories with his father-in-law happened off-camera when they would talk, laugh and joke about “fighting on TV,” insisting that in real life, they were “getting along” like a couple of “best pals.”
“That’s how I’m going to remember him,” Andrei said.
In the caption of his post, Andrei again mentioned the great moments he and Chuck shared when the “90 Day Fiancé” cameras weren’t rolling.
“Thank you for all the memories, the laughs, and the moments no one ever saw,” he wrote. “For now…rest in peace, Chuck. More to share soon… 🤍.”
Andrei’s video tribute to Chuck also included a response to the “rumors” going around about Chuck’s death, insisting that much of what is circulating “are just lies.”
“When it comes to what actually happened, I’ll speak about it later in a respectful way,” he said. “For now, I just want to honor him, Chuck, and there’s a lot more to say to this and I will share it later about his life, about our real connection and the truth behind everything … .”
On Monday, Elizabeth also addressed the rumors about her father, telling fans that until she and her family issue a statement regarding Chuck’s cause of death, anything being reported is “completely false.”
Elizabeth went on say that she was “utterly disgusted and completely appalled” by some of the stories coming out about her dad, even threatening to take legal action against People for reporting that Chuck died of brain cancer. (While Chuck previously revealed that he battled cancer in 2016, he was cancer-free the following year and after having a kidney stone removed in July, he told fans he was “so excited” that his cancer hadn’t come back.)
“Imagine mourning the loss of your dad and then waking up to fake stories being made about him,” Elizabeth wrote in a follow-up Instagram Story. “No. Absofuckinglutely not. We won’t stay quiet about this.”
Watch Andrei’s tribute to Chuck below.