CNN’s Kaitlan Collins had to fight back tears while interviewing a man who lost his wife and daughter, who were aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C., last week.
Collins, who is now the network’s chief White House correspondent as well as a nightly host, was interviewing Andy Beyer, who lost wife Justyna and his 12-year-old figure skater daughter Brielle in the crash that killed more than 60 people.
A tearful Beyer told Collins that he was at the airport with his son, texting his wife, when he saw firetrucks pass by and sensed something was wrong. Beyer explained that he joined the show to share the stories of his late wife and daughter, the latter of whom fought 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, shedding some tears, called his daughter a “joy and a gift” and referred to his wife as his “soulmate,” while Collins, struggling to control her own emotions, listened intently.
“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,” Beyer said.
“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,” Collins replied.
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CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was brought to tears while after a father discussed the moment he found out his wife and 12-year-old daughter were victims in the DC plane crash.
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“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?” he continued. “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.”
“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,” Collins added.
“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,” Beyer said.
“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,” he added.