Ellen DeGeneres is mourning the death of Tayt Andersen, who appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on multiple occasions as a child.

Andersen, who was born with a congenial heart condition, died Sept. 26, 2025, his family announced. He was 19.

DeGeneres shared a heartfelt message on Instagram remembering Andersen, which included several clips from his appearances on her show.

At the beginning of the video, DeGeneres addressed the camera, sharing, “We had a very special guest on the show several times, and his name is Tayt, and he thought that I was his girlfriend, so I told him he was my boyfriend, which shocked my wife.”

“He was a very special little human being and just brought joy and life and laughter into every room that he was in,” DeGeneres added as she teared up. “And I will miss him.”

The video transitioned into a compilation of Andersen’s visits on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” over the years, which captured the young boy’s health journey.

The clips explained that Andersen was born without the left side of his heart, with his mom, Chrissy Becker, sharing that at one point, he had already had nine heart surgeries.

DeGeneres was his shining light throughout his health complications, with Becker explaining that he would tell his doctors to “go away” until the show was over, would have his nurses watch the show alongside him and made sure his therapy was scheduled around the show.

At one point, Becker said that Andersen wasn’t doing well but after a call from DeGeneres, he told his mom, “Mommy, I gotta get better…I gotta go see my girlfriend. I gotta go see Ellen.” He also returned to the show in November 2015 after receiving a heart transplant.