When a lot of people plan their perfect wedding, they plan to have their father (or another loved one) walk them down the aisle. This is true of The View co-host Meghan McCain, who made sure her Dad, Senator John McCain, could be there for the big day.
Back in July, the 81-year-old Senator and former Presidential nominee was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer with a survival rate of just over two years. Upon hearing the news, Meghan said, “I felt like a nuclear bomb went off in my life. I was a mess. I was barely functioning.”
Meghan, 33, married 35-year-old Ben Domerich on November 21 at the McCain’s family ranch near Sedona, Arizona. The couple opted for a country-themed, sunset wedding, which was attended by 117 guests. Attendees were treated to a moonlit reception with music from Shooter Jennings and Clay Aiken, whom Meghan “pulled out of retirement to sing and got my dad to cry.” And what would a country wedding be without getting a little tipsy? As Meghan confessed with a laugh, “I got very drunk on whiskey. And had a great time dancing the entire time.”
The bride, who wore a lovely lace dress, was hardly a Bridezilla about the relatively low-key affair, telling PEOPLE, “I was not really caught up in the details. I just wanted everybody to have a good time.”
Meghan and Ben, co-founder of the website The Federalist, had dated for two years and weren’t in a mad dash to make it legal, but after her father’s brain cancer diagnosis, Meghan put plans for the event on the fast track, telling the magazine “My dad is doing really well right now, but it’s a deeply unpredictable cancer. You’re really just living scan to scan. I wanted to make sure that he was — that we were all — there. Why wait?” She says she and Ben had been discussing marriage, even contemplating an elopement, but after her father’s diagnosis, “things have taken on a new meaning” and the ceremony planning was underway.
Says Meghan, “There was something about Ben being there for me, at my father’s treatments. I was like, ‘This is love.’ I felt this overwhelming sense of time and my own mortality. We ended up saying, ‘Let’s do this now.’”
Why Meghan McCain Moved Up Her Wedding Amid Dad John's Cancer Battle: 'You're Living Scan to Scan' https://t.co/e2rQCnZCJM
— People (@people) November 29, 2017
And, since a wedding can’t go off without some sort of hitch, Senator McCain tore his Achilles tendon days before the ceremony, forcing him to wear a boot and find an understudy to walk his daughter down the aisle. Brother Jimmy came to the rescue. As Meghan recalled, “He stepped in to walk me down the actual aisle and then my dad gave me away at the very end. I had nerves right before I was going to walk out, but Jimmy was making me laugh the entire time.”
Despite this slight hiccup, a splendid time was had by all. Meghan, who admitted she wasn’t a big fan of elaborate wedding ceremonies, confessed that they wedding was “really fun,” adding, “I think we sort of overdo it with weddings in general…but I understand why people do this. It’s a beautiful celebration of love.” Papa John praised the event as “a celebration of life and a chance to revisit and celebrate the past” and added that “The thing in life you want more than anything else is for your kids to be happy. And I’m confident that she will be. It was really a wonderful day.” Meghan shared a few photos on Instagram, captioning a shot “Our life is like a country song.” She also posted a photo with her Dad showing off his booted foot along with his wife, Cindy, and Ben.
As for Senator McCain’s health situation, he told PEOPLE, “it’s still a fight, but I’m doing fine. I’m getting treatment, and my progress is steady and good. People are saying, ‘I hope you can get over this.’ I believe I will.” Despite his positivity, Meghan and Ben are postponing their honeymoon to be near her family.
Senator John McCain Opens Up About Seeing Daughter Meghan Get Married as He Battles Cancer https://t.co/6ARuMIWEAO
— People (@people) November 29, 2017
Congrats to the happy couple. As a former bride and devoted “Daddy’s girl,” I’m glad that Meghan could share this special day with her father. Oh, and it never can be said enough, cancer still sucks.
Photos: Instagram/Meghan McCain, Getty Images, WENN.com
I would be surprised if she made it a full year on The View…she isn’t fitting very well and her demeanor is way off. Not cut out for daytime. She comes off annoyed too much of the time, and it’s clear only Whoopi has taken to her. Ana Navarro would’ve been a better choice.
I find her to be incredibly rude on The View. She takes everything so personally and she comes off as snide. Replacing Jed seems to have been a mistake. When Ana Navarro subbed for Meghan she really was a much more natural fit.
Yeah, she’s really terrible. You could tell that the women actually did like and respect Jedidiah despite difference in opinion, so it’s possible. But she just comes off so condescending, picks fights with the co-hosts (“does that help you sleep at night? That HRC won the popular vote?”), attacks people when they are not there (went after Sonny when she wasn’t there to defend herself), interrupts, rubs in her elitism, etc. She completely lacks the humility, grace, and respect for others that her father has.
She was horrible the few times I saw her on REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, like a petulant child. Plus she’s not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. When someone rebuffed one of her points with a parallel to Watergate, her response was that had happened before she was born, excusing her ignorance. Another panelist shot back, ‘The Constitution was written way before i was born, but I know what’s in it.’
She’s kind of awful.
I lost my mother to the same cancer, GBM. At his age, John McCain is lucky to still be here. Yes, it’s that aggressive. Nobody deserves to lose their life or loved one like this. Ms. McCain’s decision makes perfect sense to me, sadly.
I am so sorry for your loss, HoffDNA. It sounds like a particularly awful illness, but I hope all your wonderful memories bring you comfort.
Gord Downie from the Tragically Hip recently lost his fight with GBM. From what I’ve heard it is the cancer with probably the lowest survival rate. Only around 4% of those diagnosed make it 5 years after the diagnosis. It’s such a crippling, cruel disease – I’m sorry that you lost your mom to this, HoffDNA. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that must have been.
It must not have been easy to go through with a wedding when you have that much on your mind – though I completely understand why she chose to do it quickly. It’s going to be hard to do either way – you might as well make some good, lasting memories with your loved ones, and I’m sure it brought some joy to John. It’s such a sad story all around.
My niece did the same thing four months after my brother was diagnosed with the same type of brain cancer McCain has. He died two months later after enduring three rounds of treatment. I’m glad he got to be with her on her special day.
I lost my husband to this cancer 2 months ago- I honestly believe that this disease is hard to comprehend – as a caregiver, not least; but also for health professionals, for researchers, policy makers and the pharmaceutical industry- this cancer is a conundrum- the better your physical shape, the harder the endgame. Devastating. Allow the families of those affected time and space to deal. Give them space and judge not.
I’m sorry about your mother.
That she put off a week or so honeymoon kind of tells me that McCain won’t be here for long. I’m glad she did this for him to see and is hanging around.
Peace to all of them.
She is a very pretty woman and looks gorgeous in that first shot!
She is very pretty, but…has she done something to her face? I don’t remember her looking like that, but it could be makeup.
That’s lovely that she got to have her father there, I am sure it meant a lot to both of them.
As someone who also lost someone to cancer, I’m glad for her that she moved up the date. A very sad situation.
My dad was diagnosed right before I met my husband. We got serious very quickly and at one point talked about marrying while dad was alive, but frankly we didn’t want him to have to fight that hard to stay alive for a certain date; he was suffering so much. We ended up getting engaged a year after he was gone so that everyone had time to grieve. My mom walked me down the aisle, which I loved, but I still get teary when I see a dad walking his daughter or doing the daughter-father dance. Bittersweet.
I’m happy for her and her new husband and I wish them the best in their marriage. It’s lovely that she had her father there. I admit I don’t think much of her as a person. (I had a longer post that I edited) but this is not about that.
That’s lovely. I can’t inagine how this diagnosis affected them and it’s part of the reason I’m so enraged that it took a death sentence for him to feel any kind of empathy towards his constituents.
Anyways congrats to the couple. I’ll go back to disliking them now
Bittersweet story. I admit my cold hard heart melted a little at McCain’s comment about wanting to make sure his daughter is happy. As a parent, that is everything.
yes – i got a little dust in my eye reading that too. her dress is very beautiful.
I’m not a fan of either of them. However I think she looks lovely and I’m happy that she had a lovely day, as everybody deserves a nice wedding day especially when they have such stressful medical stuff going on in the family. I do feel that his cancer is, in some ways, karma though.
What a horrible thing to say. Like, really, really horrible. Really.
@Doodle Your karma just suffered a huge dent – I’d start watching out for that cancer if I were you.
Karma for what? Serving his country and being a prisoner of war for years? I disagree with John McCain politically but this is a despicable thing to say about a man who, while flawed, has actually tried to serve his country faithfully.
EOA John has done some bad things to the Navajo residents in Arizona such as stealing their land out from under them to sell to a mining company. I would not wish him cancer and that comment was harsh but let us not pretend he is a saint. He has a history of making sordid deals and screwing people over.
And he’s about to again by voting for the tax bill.
@Alisha, I didn’t pretend he’s a saint. That’s why I said “while flawed.”
My late spiritual teacher would have kicked your ass for that karma comment. Yes there is karma, she taught, but it is not for us to say. Bad shit just happens.
Thats one of the worst things to say about somebody suffering from cancer (or another terrible illness) that they are somehow to blame.
You can’t be serious? I disagree with every policy position John McCain has ever taken he is way to conservative for me. That be said people don’t get cancer because we don’t agree with their politics and to say so is disgusting.
If we are at a place in this country where we think people having terminal illness is karma because we disagree with them then we have no hope.
I agree. And I agree knowing that a lot of Republicans/right-wingers actually do believe that illness, disability and poverty are karma because otherwise they would try to help people who are sick, disabled and poor. They do believe in karma but call it “personal responsibility.”
Hoo boy.
I’m very disappointed that McCain announced he’s supporting the Senate tax bill, but saying that his cancer is karma is ridiculous, mean and uncalled for. There are plenty of truly evil people that live long lives and plenty of kind and compassionate people who suffer much and die early. Karma can’t explain either.
Well said. If only the Republicans who let children’s health insurance expire the last 3 months could let go of their own believes in karma, or as they call it, “individual responsibility.”
It is idiocy at its best, always going to the karma remark by certain posters. Innocent people are murdered, babies raped, on and on. Is that karma?
Well said, Bonzo.
I’m glad her dad was a part of her wedding day, love a fall wedding. I wish Senator McCain the best in regards to his health struggle.
I have so many mixed feelings about this. I am happy for the couple and family.
BUT! They have the resources to have a beautiful wedding and bring the family together, while her father is currently getting ready to vote against families. The new tax bill will devastate health care and student spending. The fact that she is marrying someone from the Federalist says everything. Good for you on the limited government thing if you can afford it. I am truly worried.
Well said. She and her father talk a good, folksy game, but both spend the majority of their time preserving their own wealth and status more than helping others. Don’t forget Sen. McCain also got his wife into a state department role this year, I believe. I have a hard time admiring this family. I also still wonder about the rumors Meghan is gay and this may be a cover marriage…no proof, just something to say “hmmm” about.
Rich people looking rich. Conservative people taking care of their own.
Wish the family well, happy marriage, all that. Now back to the prince and his future bride.
Thank you Nichole. I too have student loan debt and pay for my own healthcare. While I’m happy for the newlyweds I wonder do they know the paycheck-to-paycheck struggle I do twice monthly?
McCain just came out supporting that phony tax bill. I’m done with him.
Yeah just saw that. At least Megan’s inheritance will be safe.
He still killed the health care bill, which was far more important because that really would hurt people. The tax bill won’t help anyone but the rich, but it won’t cause people to lose their health insurance. (Although I worry about them getting rid of the individual mandate.)
Yes it will. It is estimated that more than 14 million will and the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. This tax bill is a straight up health care repeal.
@tiffany is correct. One of the worst aspects of this bill, is that it is designed to destroy all social safety nets in the U.S.
Her husband’s website just published an article endorsing a vote for Roy Moore because, in part, it’s not really so terrible for a 30+ year old guy to go after 8th graders because the females are fertile at that age and the guy has to be older and established to have a lot of kids: https://thefederalist.com/2017/11/30/alabamians-vote-roy-moore/
Yeah, they love cactus all right – dry and prickly. Nasty people. McCain has never been his mythology.
Well, John McCain is not Meghan’s ultra-conservative husband. Not that I agree with John on most of his stances, but he can be reasonable at times.
John McCain had previously addressed the Moore allegations on November 9th.
“The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.”
McCain has added to his wealth in many shady ways. He says one thing, then does another. Look up his involvement with his friend Charles Keating and the 1980s Savings and Loan scandal that cost taxpayers billions. He has been dirty forever, sorry to say.
Nope. He is voting yes on that tax bill. Just. Nope.
She is a damaged, angry person. Life on earth is not all about WAR, guns, and politics, chunk…
Man, I know that people have all kinds of opinions, but coming from a girl who’s dad has also just been diagnosed with a cancer that has no cure, thanks for writing this story. I would give anything to have my dad around long term but its just a good reminder to live every single moment to the best of my ability and to make family a priority. You can find fault with anything else, but family is family and I love that they changed things to have her dad a part of it all.
Grey, I am so sorry. Sending you and your family love and light.
thank you so much