Meat Loaf 's daughter Amanda Aday has opened up about life with the singing legend after his tragic death.
The Bat Out of Hell hitmaker died on Thursday, surrounded by his family, at the age of 74, and tributes flooded in for the beloved rocker.
Stars including Brian May and Bonnie Tyler shared their fond memories of the musician, as well as Cher, who sang with Meat Loaf on their 1981 hit Dead Ringer for Love, and said he was “so much fun” in a tribute on social media.
His daughter Amanda spoke about her life with the Grammy-winning rocker, and she said he was a “complex man with a lot of passion, who wore his heart on his sleeve”.
Amanda told People she and sister Pearl rushed to their father’s home in Nashville after his health began to decline “very rapidly”, and she was grateful to be able to spend time with him before he passed.
Meat Loaf married Amanda’s mother Leslie in 1979, and he adopted her daughter Pearl from a previous relationship.
The couple split in 2001, and the rocker married Deborah Gillespie in 2007.
Amanda recalled growing up travelling the world with her father, who shot to fame with his 1977 classic, Bat Out of Hell, and said she had “amazing experiences” thanks to her superstar dad.
But once they returned home to Connecticut, she said the rocker transformed, and “it was home and he was just dad - he wasn't Meat Loaf anymore”.
The musician was also deeply involved in his daughters’ lives, and he coached the softball teams, as well as helping to put on the school plays.
“If we didn't get good grades, we were grounded, and all of that stuff,” Amanda said, insisting that it was “very important” to her father that they had stable lives when they weren’t on tour.
The 41-year-old, who carved out her own career as a successful TV actress in the US, said Christmas was her dad’s favourite time of the year, and one year, he bought every Playmobil toy set he could find in order to surprise his daughter.
Amanda said she hopes her father will be remembered for his talents, despite his outspoken and controversial views on the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He was a singer, he was an actor, he was a father, a husband, he was a grandpa. It was Papa Meat to my nephew. He was everything,” she sadly added.
The rocker publicly voiced his concern over the restrictions imposed amid the global health pandemic, and told CNN last year that he would be refusing to wear face masks because “they’re just a nuisance and make your nose itch and make it so you can’t breathe”.
