‘I did absolutely cry reading this’: Kyle MacLachlan’s touching tribute to David Lynch leaves people in tears

The internet is reeling at the news of director David Lynch’s death on Jan. 15, 2025, announced by the famed Twin Peaks director’s family on Facebook. As heartfelt as their homage was, it was a tribute from his friend actor Kyle MacLachlan that went viral, particularly his declaration that “I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear.”

Kyle MacLachlan posts a touching tribute to David Lynch

Lynch was the director who catapulted MacLachlan’s acting career, but more than that, he was the actor’s “dear friend” whose aspirations for MacLachlan surpassed what he thought was possible, according to his tribute post.

In the caption of a Jan 16., 2025, Instagram post, MacLachlan wrote, “Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie. He clearly saw something in me that even I didn’t recognize. I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision.”

“What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to. Our friendship blossomed on Blue Velvet and then Twin Peaks and I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I’d ever met.”

He shared touching memories of his decades-long friendship with David Lynch and the director’s understanding of the world around him. His emotions and immense loss put into words a longing and grief that so many find hard to describe at the loss of a loved one.

“David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath.”

MacLachlan wrote. “I can see him now, standing up to greet me in his backyard, with a warm smile and big hug and that Great Plains honk of a voice. We’d talk coffee, the joy of the unexpected, the beauty of the world, and laugh. His love for me and mine for him came out of the cosmic fate of two people who saw the best things about themselves in each other.”

“I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he’s gone. David, I remain forever changed, and forever your Kale. Thank you for everything.”

Folks in the comments and on other social media platforms shared how MacLachlan’s touching tribute left them in tears

As one person on X, formerly known as Twitter, put it, “He was clearly so loved by his collaborators and I think that says so much about the kind of man he was, it’s beautiful.” Several people on social media have also noted that MacLachlan has reposted several TikTok tributes to his late friend.

The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.