Criss Angel on son's cancer battle: 'I felt helpless'

Magician Criss Angel opened up about his son’s two year battle with cancer.

When Angel's son Johnny Sarantakos was diagnosed with cancer last year, he dropped everything to fly from the US to Australia to be with him.  

'I felt helpless,' he told People.

Making things difficult, Angel was locked in a ten-year contract performing multiple shows a week in L.A while his son lived in Australia with his mother. 

Commitments meant he was only able to visit his son once over a ten-month period, providing support from a distance.

Angel and his wife Shaunyl Benson had separated, but still remain friends.

‘Honestly, we are really good friends. Whenever I need anything, I know that Criss is there,’ Benson said.

‘At the end of the day, it makes Johnny happy to see his parents interacting happily and … it makes me happy seeing my son happy.’

Johnny is now in remission but is still undergoing treatment.

Hoping to raise awareness of pediatric cancer, Angel started the Johnny Crisstopher Children’s Charitable Foundation.