Though many have grieved the loss of musician Meat Loaf, the death of the “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” singer has been especially hard for Amanda Aday. And that’s because to the rest of the world, he was a larger-than-life singer, but to her, he was simply “dad.”
“My father was, more than anything, filled with love, and he had the biggest heart and was just a giant teddy bear,” Aday told Inside Edition.
In the 74-year-old’s final days, Meat Loaf was surrounded by his children and people who worked with him for many years, his daughter recalled.
“Everybody rallied– our family, our music family and everybody flew in from around the country,” she said.
Meat Loaf died on Jan. 20 in a hospital outside Nashville, where he lived. His wife Deborah and his two daughters, Pearl and Amanda, were at his side. In a statement at the time, the family said their “hearts are broken.” The week before his death, his daughter Pearl confirmed on social media that several of her family members had tested positive for COVID-19 but did not specify who in the family had been sick with the novel coronavirus.
Amanda Aday would not comment on reports that her father died of COVID-19. In the months before his death, Meat Loaf blamed China for the pandemic. He was an outspoken critic of vaccine and mask mandates and was recently quoted as saying, “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.”
“So many of us in the past two years have lost loved ones and so we’re now at a place, I think, where all of us, across the globe, are grieving together,” she told Inside Edition.
Just this year, Meat Loaf played matchmaker for his daughter and her musician boyfriend.
“The first thing dad says out of his mouth is ‘that was a great show, but when are you going to marry my daughter, because I love you and you love her, so let’s make this happen because I want to walk my daughter down the aisle before I die,” she tearfully said. “And obviously we are here today and that did not happen.”
At the time of his death, Meat Loaf was working on a reality show based on his hit song “I’d Do Anything for Love.”