Vanessa Hudgens Dedicates ‘Grease: Live’ Performance To Her Father After His Death

On Sunday night,  Vanessa Hudgens took the Grease: Live stage to play the part of Rizzo.

Hours before her performance, the actress took to Twitter to break the news of her father’s passing. “I am 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.”

Hudgens also added that she was doing “the show in his honor.”

Just last year, the actress announced that her father was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer at the 2015 Industry Dance Awards in Los Angeles.

“Last year, my boyfriend, Austin, lost his mom, Lori, to cancer, and my dad has just been recently diagnosed with stage four cancer,” she told the audience. “Let me tell you, I hate cancer. I hate cancer with every cell of my being.”

Celebrities and fans sent their condolences to Hudgens and sent praise for her performance as Rizzo. Her High School Musical co-star, Ashley Tisdale tweeted, “I wouldn’t expect anything less @VanessaHudgens is killing it! So proud of my girl #GreaseLive”

#GreaseLive trended worldwide Sunday night on Twitter and had a record 12.2 million viewers tuning in to watch.