Between accidents, deaths, and the ruthless conditions of such a dangerous way of life, there’s no denying that misfortunes aren’t an unknown concept for the cast of “Deadliest Catch”. However, it’s always hard every time someone in the show is hit by some tragedy, the most recent example of that being with Northwestern’s Captain Sig Hansen, who has recently gone through the devastating loss of his beloved mother, as seen in an episode of the show’s 19th season.
So what happened to Captain Sig Hansen’s mother, and what other tragedies have hit him and his family in recent years? Stay here to know it all!
What Happened To His Mother?
Captain Sig Hansen’s mother Snefryd passed away on 20 October 2022 at 83 years old. Though her cause of death wasn’t revealed, her online obituary reveals that she was in Seattle at the time of her death.
Later, in May 2023, an episode of “Deadliest Catch” 19th season revealed the moment in which Sig Hansen received the news of his mother’s declining health condition while he was on board the Northwestern. As heard from the phone call he received from his wife June at the time, Snefryd was in a hospice and had just been ‘put on morphine’.
The saddened Sig decided right away to return to shore and call his brother Norman to inform him as well, while his daughter Mandy became teary at hearing the unfavorable health condition of her grandmother. They headed to Seattle, but it was sadly too late for them to say goodbye to Snefryd.
This isn’t the first time that the Hansens have gone through a tragedy, as Sig’s father Sverre died in 2001 at 63 years old. Both Sverre and Snefryd were Norwegian natives who found a new home in Greenbank, Washington State, starting the fishing tradition that their family would follow for decades. Following her husband’s death, Snefryd moved to a cabin in Mount Vernon in Seattle, where she spent quality time with her family.
What Happened To Sig Hansen’s Wife?
It’s been a couple of difficult years for the Hansen family, especially when it comes to health-related issues. As it happened, in 2019, Sig’s wife June went through a health scare when she was diagnosed with a form of cancer in her neck.
Though further details about June’s illness weren’t revealed, Captain Sig seemed deeply affected by the news when he received the fateful phone call informing him of June’s diagnosis during the 15th season finale of “Deadliest Catch”. At the time, Sig and June’s daughter Many explained that it was unknown if her mother’s illness could get worse, meaning that more tests were waiting for her. As well, the family’s need to stay on-shore hinted that both Sig and Mandy could be taking some time away from Northwestern for the following season.
Nevertheless, things fortunately turned out well for June; as revealed by Country Living in late 2019, June’s cancer was detected in its early stages and stopped before it could get worse. When June and Sig set foot on the red carpet of that year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, she looked considerably healthy.
Did Sig Hansen Have A Heart Attack?
Captain Sig Hansen has also gone through some worrying health scares in recent times. In 2018, Sig suffered a heart attack while on board the Northwestern, as caught by “Deadliest Catch” cameras in the 12th season.
At the time, Sig began experiencing terrible chest pain while talking to the cameras, leaving him no option but to stop his monologue while grabbing his chest out of pain. After the producer advised him to seek help, Sig argued that the cramps he was experiencing could have resulted from a bad sleep position, but then falling unconscious.
After being transported to an Anchorage hospital, Sig was told that he had indeed suffered a heart attack – Sig later admitted that the experience had been scary once he learned of his diagnosis, but at the time it happened he could only focus on the pain: ‘I had this really sharp, sharp pain, like a knife, right behind my chest plate. It just kept pushing, and it was making me more angry’, he said in an interview with Yahoo, in which he also thanked his fans for the good wishes and support he received at the time.
Despite how scary and life-threatening the incident was, Captain Sig returned to the Northwestern the following “Deadliest Catch” season.
Second Heart Attack
Captain Sig Hansen suffered a second heart attack in late 2018, though this time the unfortunate incident wasn’t featured in “Deadliest Catch”, given that it happened off-fishing season.
As Sig revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2019, an allergic reaction to an antibiotic caused him to suddenly swell up while driving in his native Seattle. The situation was so bad that he choked out, but his wife was quick to call emergency while she drove directly to the hospital. Once there he received an epinephrine injection to calm his allergy, but it sent him into shock and a subsequent heart attack.
As explained by Sig, the reason he was on antibiotics at the time was to treat a sinus infection he had developed during a recent trip to Norway. What Sig didn’t expect was the antibiotics to lead him to his second heart attack, even though it wasn’t directly the cause of that.
While his health scare pushed Sig into partly abandoning his smoking habits, it also re-awakened the fear of suffering another serious health issue while on his ship, inherently also staining his enjoyment of fishing, as he admitted at the time.
Sig Hansen @DeadliestCatch with his cardiologist Dr. McCabe @ UW Medical Center. Since his heart attack, Sig has worked to be healthier. pic.twitter.com/gHe92unwp1
— UW Medicine (@UWMedicine) November 22, 2016
What Happened to Sig Hansen’s Brother?
Those who have been paying attention to “Deadliest Catch” from its early seasons surely remember that Sig Hansen wasn’t the only one in charge of the Northwestern. At times he was replaced by his younger brother Edgar, until the latter didn’t appear in the show from the 15th season.
Although it seems surprising, the truth is that “Deadliest Catch” had good reasons to not include Edgar in the show anymore. As it happened, in 2018 Edgar Hansen pled guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at a residence in southern Washington State. The crime was described by the minor to her therapist, who reported it to authorities in late 2017.
The charges against Edgar included fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, to which he declared himself guilty in July 2018. As reported by the Seattle Times, Edgar’s plea saved him from paying jail time, instead having to undergo counseling and treatment for sexual deviancy, and pay $1,653 in legal costs.
Even though Edgar didn’t spend time in jail, the nature of his crime was an understandable reason for “Deadliest Catch” producers to cut him out of the show, even though he’s still part of the Northwestern’s crew.
The Northwestern Now
While some things remain the same in the Northwestern, other things have drastically changed as well. Sig Hansen has uninterruptedly acted as the boat’s captain, though he now shares that responsibility with his daughter Mandy, who took Northwestern’s Co-Captain spot in 2018.
While Sig’s concerns about his daughter’s well-being made him slightly unhappy about seeing her on the boat, he and Mandy have shared their roles as skippers quite well for years, even traveling together to Norway to film “Deadliest Catch: The Viking Returns”, premiered in late 2022.
On the other hand, “Deadliest Catch” has also gone through some changes in recent times, as some new faces were introduced into the show during the 19th season premiere in early 2023. While this doesn’t mean that fan favorites such as the Hansens will be left out of the show, it means that the audience will get to see a new generation of fishermen trying to build their legacy on the Bering Sea.
All in all, life keeps moving forward for the Hansen family, despite the recent loss of Sig’s mother Snefryd, and all the other difficulties they’ve been through these years.
ncG1vNJzZmilkae%2FqrHDm6Con6KWvanFjaipoGeTlr21rcinZKyhl2K1orrSnqVmpJ%2BowW60yKxkm52cpMOmsIympqZn