Don Lemon returned to CNN Tuesday evening and offered an emotional monologue about his older sister, L’Tanya “Leisa” Lemon Grimes, who died in a freak accident last Wednesday.
“My oldest sister died unexpectedly last week and I am back sitting with you tonight because this is exactly where she would have wanted me to be,” said Lemon.
“Leisa was so proud of me. All she wanted for Christmas this past year was a new ‘CNN Tonight’ t-shirt. She had washed the letters off the old one I gave her just a few years ago and that’s all she wanted.”
Lemon thanked everyone for their words of condolence and encouragement — including some from rivals at Fox News.
“Even some of my competitors and people I have raging arguments with on television, you think we hate each other, but we don’t,” said Lemon. “So I’m going to thank you for your kindness, from folks like Sean Hannity, who reached out to me, to Steve Doocy.”
Lemon become emotional when talking about how his boss — CNN chief Jeff Zucker — reacted to the news.
“You don’t know how much this meant to me, Jeff Zucker, but I will never forget that you wouldn’t leave my office. And you wouldn’t go home until I got in a car, on a plane.”
L’Tanya “Leisa” Lemon Grimes, 58 drowned after falling into a pond in Livingston Parish in Louisiana last Wednesday.
Thanks everyone for your words of sympathy. Please keep my family in your prayers. Leisa was my oldest sister & partner in crime growing up. Always had my back. #RIPbigSis pic.twitter.com/9k1IVtqukQ
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) February 1, 2018