Vanessa Hudgens said goodbye to her father, Greg Hudgens, on Tuesday, sharing an image of a framed photo of her dad dressed in his firefighter's uniform. The framed photo is adorned with greenery and flowers and appears to have been taken from a funeral service for Mr. Hudgens, with what looks like a church in the background, although further details remain unknown.
"Rest in peace daddy," the 27-year-old captioned the post, adding a heart emoji.
The grieving actress also shared a photo encrypted with a verse from the book of Psalms in the Bible. "He counts the stars and calls them all by name, Psalms 147:4," it read. The former "High School Musical" star shared a quote on Saturday on her Instagram page that simply read, "I wish heaven had visiting hours."
"If only..." she captioned the post.
Hudgens announced on Jan. 21 that her father had passed away from stage four cancer just hours before she was set to star as the feisty and sassy Rizzo in Fox's three-hour production of "Grease: Live."
The actress also dedicated her performance to her father. "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," she tweeted. "I will do the show in his honor."
Hudgens, who initially revealed her father's diagnosis last summer, received rave reviews from fans and stars alike for her performance. "Grease: Live" executive producer Marc Platt praised Hudgens, calling her "incredibly brave" and "professional" for going through with her performance following her father's death.
"She's a professional, but she's also a human being and a daughter. I looked at her in the eyes and said can you do this? I think your dad would want you to do this, and she said she knew that he would," Platt told Variety. "She knew that she had to do it. She knew that she had to put that in a box for a few hours and use it to fuel her performance. We asked her if her family would come. And they came to the show and watched in a trailer live on the Warners lot. I was with her mom." "I think it was for all of them a very cathartic experience given the brutality of the circumstances. Her performance speaks for itself. We were all very proud of her and send her love to her family."
Platt also opened up about the show's decision to honor Greg Hudgens at the end of the live broadcast.
"At the 11th hour I asked her if we could honor her dad and the memory of her dad in that way and she was very touched by it," he added. "Fox jumped on and Paramount and we put it in the last moment. We were happy to do so. The performance was indeed dedicated to his memory."
Following the show, the "Spring Breakers" actress reached out to fans and thanked them for their support, writing on Instagram, "I can't believe @gogrease is OVER! Grand opening and grand closing. Thank you to everyone who watched & supported me last night. Doing #greaselive was one of the most incredible experiences and I'm so glad you guys liked it as much as I did."
"Till next time Rizz ... #pinkladyforlife," she added alongside a photo from her rendition of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do."