His Mom Died in a Drunk Driving Accident When He Was 5. How He Thanked the Aunt Who Raised Him, 25 Years Later (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

It was New Year’s Day 2000, and Terri had been in Las Vegas, celebrating the turn of the century with a friend when their car was sideswiped in an accident that ultimately claimed her life. After hearing the news, Peggy dropped everything and rushed to pick up Nealon.

Ryan Nealon with his Aunt Peggy.Ryan Nealon; Caity Krone

Ryan Nealon; Caity Krone

Things moved quickly after that. Nealon packed his things and moved into his aunt and uncle’s house, just down the street from where he and his mom had lived in San Diego. Then, they held a funeral service.

“I was dressed in a little tux, and everyone was crying, coming up to the little 5-year-old in the pews,” Nealon, now 30, recalls exclusively to PEOPLE. “I just completely compartmentalized the whole thing. I didn’t understand what was going on.”

Looking back, Nealon says one of his earliest memories of his mom, Terri, was making Play-Doh French fries for her. After that, they’d watch television or listen to music, where Terri introduced Nealon to some of her favorite artists, from Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire to Toto and Carole King.

Ryan Nealon with his Aunt Peggy as a child.Courtesy of Ryan Nealon

Courtesy of Ryan Nealon

Terri, who had Nealon at 44 years old and whose partner left when he was just 2 months old, didn’t have much, but she worked hard to give her son a good life.

“One thing that I loved is that my aunt never sugarcoated anything,” Nealon says. “She was always very much like, ‘Your mom was crazy. She was a wild child, got in a lot of trouble, and was very reckless. But she was also such a good time, and everybody loved her.’ "

“Even to this day, if I have a question, like, ‘Did my mom ever do this or that?’ my aunt will always tell me with hesitation,” he adds. “It was very cool that I got to grow up with someone who knew her so well because there were some secrets that no one else in the family knew — secrets that only my mom knew.”

After her death, Nealon’s play sessions turned into new memories with his aunt, who had always wanted children of her own but didn’t conceive. As Nealon grew up, he continued discovering his love for making music with Peggy supporting him every step of the way, attending every concert, no matter how far.

“As I started growing up and understanding our dynamic, it just felt so mother-and-son coded,” Nealon says. “It felt so natural. It just seemed right to call her ‘mom’ and my uncle ‘dad.’ I got a second chance at having parents, which was really, really special for me.”

“She gave me the best childhood ever,” Nealon adds. “But what was really special is that I realized my aunt was there the whole time, even before my mom died.”

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Ryan Nealon with his Aunt Peggy as a child.Ryan Nealon

Ryan Nealon

Over the years, Nealon has taken to social media to open up about his mom’s story, his journey growing up with his aunt and how he’s found ways to grieve through his music. Since then, he’s gained more than 209,000 followers onInstagramand 128,000 followers onTikTok.

Recently, he shared that he decided to release his own EP, set to drop on Feb. 21. All the songs, he says, explore what he would look like without a brave face and reflect on how he’s dealt with trauma in his life and managed to push through it.

“I didn’t want to come off as a sob case,” he says. “I didn’t want to come off as someone who just constantly wallows in their trauma … I kind of wanted to do the opposite. I wanted to show people that you can go through traumatic life events and still come out on the other side. I think for me, my mom made it so I wouldn’t become a ball of trauma, unable to do anything but curl up in a fetal position.”

Ryan Nealon performing on stage.Jamie Hart

Jamie Hart

But in the midst of writing, Nealon realized there was a song missing. “The entire EP was about how I’ve dealt with trauma, but I never really thought to myself, ‘Where did I learn that from? Where did I learn the skill to compartmentalize, push through, and be strong?’ " he says.

Then it clicked: he learned it from his aunt. “I realized, ‘Oh yeah, I need a song about that,’ " he says. And that’s when “Never See You Cry” was born.

“This song was kind of my way of giving her a little bit of a release,” he adds. “I wanted to tell her, ‘You can cry now. I don’t need you to be the strongest person in the world — you already are that to me. I’m here for you.’ That was kind of the whole point of the song.”

Ryan Nealon posing for the camera.Caity Krone

Caity Krone

However, Nealon admits that before this song, he had written another about his relationship with his aunt six years ago, when he was 26 years old.

“She’s going to hate that I’m saying this, but I think it’s funny. I wrote a song about the situation where my aunt adopted me. I wrote it to explain the experience, but she hated it,” he says. “So I knew I needed a redo. I had already thought about it in my head: I needed something crystal clear. I needed to do it better.”

Ryan Nealon with his Aunt Peggy.Courtesy of Marissa Crowley

Courtesy of Marissa Crowley

On Jan. 10, Nealon took toTikTokto share a video of him surprising Peggy with the song while they were in the car together. As he sat in the car, he recalls to PEOPLE how he felt close to his biological mom, too. He says his aunt always tells him that she knows his mom would’ve loved what he’s doing right now.

“I knew I wanted to show her, and I thought about doing it on camera because the moment was just so special for us,” he says. “I wanted it for myself, for forever. I’m happy that now I have that first reaction forever. And so many people have seen it. Honestly, she feels very famous, which I love, and she deserves to feel famous. It’s just so special that we now have that moment together, and it’s going to be on the Internet forever.”

“I felt kind of bad for her because I really didn’t emotionally prepare her,” he adds. “What you guys didn’t see after the video was, she was crying. So I felt very accomplished because I never get to see her cry. I was very excited when I got to see her have that sort of emotional moment. It was very awesome.”

“I always felt like I never got the chance to say thank you to [her] for taking me in when I lost my birth mom,” Nealon says. “It was a really difficult time for her. I’ll never understand how someone could go and testify in court, literally in front of the person who killed her sister, and at the same time, take in her son and raise him completely without any support, without anyone holding her hand.”

Now, looking toward the future, Nealon knows there are so many stories he has left to tell, so many different songs he wants to write.

“What happened to my mom has happened to a lot of people around the world, and I’m just hoping one day that doesn’t happen anymore,” he adds. “If someone didn’t drive under the influence, I would still have my mom today. But with that being said I’m just grateful that I got the best mom in the whole entire world, even if it wasn’t what I expected. It was literally my aunt who stepped up, and I just feel lucky that I was able to give her this song as kind of a gift and just a way to say, ‘Thank you.’ "

source: people.com