Meghan McCain has announced that her older brother Douglas “Doug” McCain has died. He was 66.
“I am deeply saddened to share the news of my brother Doug McCain’s sudden passing,” Meghan, 41, wrote via X on Sunday, May 24. “He was truly a wonderful, joyful man who supported me throughout my life. He brought humor, fun and great conversation to every room. I will cherish our memories together.”
The former The View cohost added, “Our prayers are with his wife Ashley and children Caroline and Shepp.”
No official cause of death has been publicly revealed at the time of publication.
Meghan shared the same statement on Instagram, alongside a photo of her late brother and her late father, former Senator John McCain, as well as two solo pictures of her sibling. (John, who ran for president in 2008 against Barack Obama, died in 2018 at the age of 81 after a battle with cancer.)
Doug was the eldest son of John’s first wife, Carol McCain, from a previous marriage. The late senator went on to adopt Doug and his brother, Andrew, after he married Carole in 1965. They later welcomed a third child, daughter Sidney, one year before John’s plane was shot down in Vietnam and he spent nearly six years away from his family as a prisoner of war.
When he was rescued and returned to the U.S, he entered the political world, which his son Andy recalled ultimately put a strain on his first marriage.
“As dad progressed, he was gone a lot, doing a lot of international travel, and it was putting a little stress on the marriage,” he said in the 2018 HBO documentary John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls.
It was at this time, in 1979, that he ultimately met his second wife, Cindy McCain — 18 years his junior — in Hawaii.
“Cindy was very young too, and you can’t help who you fall in love with,” Sidney said in the same HBO documentary. “I truly believe that my dad is very much in love with Cindy, and I think she is very much in love with him, and I think there is something very beautiful about that. At the time it was really awful.”
After John and Cindy wed, they welcomed four additional children to their blended family: Meghan, John “Jack” McCain, James McCain and Bridget McCain.
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Doug opened up about his relationship with his younger siblings in the HBO doc.
“It was just different, it took some time getting used to,” he recalled at the time. “I have a good relationship with Cindy, as do my brother and sister. And I have a good relationship with Meghan, Jack, Jimmy and Bridget. We’re not extraordinarily close, but if I ever need something, I know how to reach them.”