Neil Patrick Harris, a proud fur dad to four dogs, shared tragic news via a Wondercade blog post: Ella, his family’s four-year-old Golden Retriever, was killed in a freak accident last week. At the time, NPH was visiting friends with his husband David, while their kids were at camp. NPH said a very close friend, Michael, was staying at his family home on Long Island to care for their four dogs: Ella, Gidget, Spike, and the most recent addition, Chunk the Frenchie.
Michael called a groggy NPH unusually early, starting quietly with, “Ella is dead.” But Michael’s voice broke as he went on to explain the tragic scene, “I found her in the front yard, lying in the grass. It seems like a tree branch had somehow gotten caught in her collar, and in trying to get it free, she rolled around on the ground and it wrapped around her neck. She must have choked or been strangled or something. Part of the branch is stuck in her mouth. But she’s dead. Ella’s dead.” After that, Michael was too devastated to continue with the call.
NPH then went into “massive loss” to his family, “She was barely four years old. She was absolutely brimming with life. We’ve had dogs die before, but they were old and blind and incontinent, so for them it was only a matter of time. Sad, yes, but inevitable. But Ella was so young. She lived to play. She’d start every morning by playing fetch with a tennis ball for almost an hour, happily galloping through the grass for that prized projectile, time and again, tail wagging, making sure to do an involuntary dance of pure joy before dropping the ball on command. She’d leap into our swimming pool with abandon, maybe 20 times a day, to exercise or cool off or just to have fun.”
He continued, “She’d play with our other three dogs lovingly, and let them nestle into her to nap. She was absolutely gorgeous – I’d coo it to her constantly – and I’m fairly certain she would have won at Westminster. I’d pet her exquisite coat and she would gently put her paw on my hand, perhaps wanting me to continue or perhaps just expressing thanks. She never stopped smiling.”
Ella was a gift under the Christmas tree in 2020. NPH said Ella was his husband David’s favorite. And that while he was writing this tribute, he still hadn’t broken the news to his twins Harper and Gideon.
And how they loved Ella deeply and will be crushed by the news, along with having questions that he doesn’t know the answers to… Let’s all wish NPH and his family the best during this time of mourning.