Aww! Chrissy Teigen Shared Why Mister Rogers Used to Announce He Was Feeding His Fish

By Alessia Santoro
Everett Collection
Everett Collection

Beloved television personality and avid sweater wearer Mister Rogers was widely known for his genuinely sweet nature, and a small detail about his show that has just resurfaced — thanks to none other than Chrissy Teigen — has us shedding a tear in honor of the late Fred Rogers.

With the fiftieth anniversary of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on Feb. 19, details about the show and Rogers's personality have been circulating across the internet. And though the book Dear Mr. Rogers, Does It Ever Rain in Your Neighborhood?: Letters to Mr. Rogers was released back in 1996, Chrissy Teigen just tweeted an adorable detail from the book that might just be the cutest thing we've ever learned about Mister Rogers.

If you were a fan of the show, you can no doubt remember those fish-feeding interludes in which Rogers would stop what he was doing to announce that he was going to shake some fish food into the tank across the room. But as it turns out, he didn't always share aloud that it was feeding time for his pets.

"Mister Rogers would narrate himself feeding the fish each episode with 'I'm feeding the fish' because of a letter he received from a young blind girl who was worried the fish were hungry," Chrissy tweeted. "Love you, Mister Rogers."

An except from Dear Mr. Rogers, Does It Ever Rain in Your Neighborhood? confirms the story:

One girl and her family wrote to tell us there was a special reason why she wanted me to talk about feeding the fish each day.

Dear Mister Rogers,
Please say when you are feeding your fish, because I worry about them. I can't see if you are feeding them, so please say you are feeding them out loud.
Katie, age 5
(Father's note: Katie is blind, and she does cry if you don't say that you have fed the fish.)

Since hearing from Katie, I've tried to remember to mention out loud those times that I'm feeding the fish. Over the years, I've learned so much from children and their families. I like to think that we've all grown together.

That sound you hear? That's the internet collectively sobbing. They sure don't make 'em like Mister Rogers anymore.