Neil Patrick Harris Just Wrote a Tear-Jerking Speech About his Dog

Neil Patrick Harris just wrote one tear-jerker of a story for his weekly newsletter Wondercade. In an essay titled "A Tribute to Ella," Harris grieved the loss of his golden retriever Ella, who was a beloved member of his family with David Burtka.

"Her full name was Eleanor Menopee Burtka-Harris, her first name in honor of David's maternal grandmother (Eleanor Zajas) and her middle name chosen by my quick-witted father, who enjoyed the comedy of combining it with her nickname (say Ella Menopee out loud, it's brilliant)," he writes. "She joined our family in December of 2020, a gift from Santa Claus himself, in a wrapped box under the stockings."

Harris said the heavy-hearted post was not something he would normally post on Wondercade, and the post was an "article I never wanted to write."

The actor said "late last week" he and Burtka were vacationing in New Hampshire while a close friend was watching the family's four dogs. Then he got a gut-wrenching call.

"Ella is dead," the friend told him. The 4-year-old dog apparently died in a freak accident involving a tree branch.

"I found her in the front yard, lying in the grass. It seems like a tree branch had somehow gotten caught in her collar, and in trying to get it free, she rolled around on the ground and it wrapped around her neck," the family friend said. "She must have choked or been strangled or something. Part of the branch is stuck in her mouth. But she's dead. Ella's dead."

The whole tale was a sad ordeal, and enough to make readers pull their furry pets closer. What's more is, Harris said he didn't want to post about the incident on Instagram because of the inevitable insensitive comments that would come.

"I really have no interest in processing the hateful, uninformed, yet inevitable comments that would ensue," he wrote.

"It's too soon," he added.