Vanessa Hudgens performed in a live televised musical just hours after announcing her father had passed away.
On Sunday, Hudgens announced on Twitter that her father Gregory Hudgens, 65, had died the night before following a cancer illness.
Writing to her five million followers, she said: “I’m so sad to say that last night my daddy Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers.”
On Sunday evening, the High School Musical actress was due to appear as Rizzo in a live revival of Grease broadcast on Fox, which she said she would do “in his honour”.
In July, Hudgens shared a photo of herself with her father on Twitter and asked her followers to "pray for his healing".
The 27-year-old’s Grease performance, particularly her rendition of the powerful ballad "There Are Worse Things I Could Do", was widely praised on social media and many of her peers from the entertainment world noted her strength considering her loss.
Grease: Live also included performances by Julianne Hough as Sandy, Carly Rae Jepson as Frenchie and Mario Lopez as Vince Fontaine.
