Celebrity Celebrity Family Celebrity Parenting Jenny McCarthy Shares How Kelly Ripa Supported Her When Son Was Diagnosed with Autism: 'I'll Always Be Indebted' The actress shares her 22-year-old son with ex-husband John Asher By Hannah Sacks Hannah Sacks Hannah Sacks is a writer/reporter for the Parents team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since May 2023. Her work has previously appeared in The Toy Insider, The Toy Book, The Pop Insider, and Saratoga Living. People Editorial Guidelines Published on July 17, 2024 11:23AM EDT Close Jenny McCarthy, husband Donnie Wahlberg and her son Evan. Photo: Jenny McCarthy Instagram Jenny McCarthy is feeling grateful for the way her friend Kelly Ripa supported her when her son Evan was diagnosed with autism. On Wednesday, July 17, the actress, 51, appeared on an episode of Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, sharing a story about how the Live with Kelly & Mark host helped her during a difficult time. "You have been a very instrumental part of my journey," McCarthy begins. "When my son was diagnosed with autism, and I think I've told you this many, many times, but I found out Evan was diagnosed with autism and I was, you can imagine what one goes through. It was the end of my life. I was devastated." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Jenny McCarthy's Son Evan Moved Back Home After College — and She Loves It (Exclusive) Explaining that she had to go home right after and pack to come on Ripa's show, McCarthy says that all she wanted to do was "cancel, hold my baby who was just having like deadly seizures, but I had to feed and fix him. I needed money." "So, I had to get on the plane. My husband wasn't making any money, so it was on me," she continues. McCarthy says she remembers seeing Ripa and telling her she needed help, noting that the two got through it together while McCarthy was crying backstage. "We got through it and I'm so grateful 'cause I will never forget that it was the lowest part of my entire life and you were like the next person I saw and I was like, so I'm sorry to unload on you," she says. Ripa tells her friend that she didn't mind and recalls putting McCarthy in contact with an autism advocacy group. "It was so helpful. There was, you guys, back then, Google was just born maybe that year. If you Googled, there wasn't that much stuff coming up," McCarthy says. "There was nothing, and so it was a very, very scary time and you helped me sell a lot of books that helped pay for speech therapy, so I will always be indebted."