A cow, I-95 traffic and true love: This actor’s shocking only-in-Miami tale has it all
Michael Chiklis managed to silence the garrulous hosts on Thursday’s “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest were asking how long he’d been married, and “The Commish” star, appearing virtually, said almost 30 years.
Chiklis, who stars in the new show “Coyote,” then launched into a wild story that had an unexpected, local connection.
He said he knew he and Michelle Moran, a Miami native, were “meant to be” just a few years ago.
The Massachusetts native, 57, said that he was 6 years old when he and his family traveled to South Florida to visit his great uncle. On their trip one day, they got into a traffic jam on I-95. When Chiklis asked why they were stuck, his father told him, “Someone hit a [bleeping] cow.”
As they passed the wreck, “The Shield” star said he remembered seeing first responders cutting the roof off the top of a totaled Cadillac that had hit the animal. The memory of the people in the vehicle stayed with him.
Fast forward to about six years ago. The actor was lying in bed with his wife, who was talking to her father on the phone about someone they knew who hit a deer. Moran’s father then brought up an accident they’d had when she was a child — an accident in which their car hit a cow on the highway in Miami.
“I was like, I’m sorry, hold on,” Chiklis said when he realized this was the same accident he’d witnessed as a child.
“My father-in-law was the guy who hit the cow? Sure enough, it was their car!” said Chiklis, incredulously. “My future wife was in that car!”
The hosts were gobsmacked.
“I feel very emotional about that,” said Ripa.
“Wow,” said Seacrest. “That is a beautiful story.”
“I wish I could you give you a hug,” Chiklis said.
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 3:52 PM.
