Wasn't he also an abuser? And didn't she play the part of the abused wife in The Burning Bed ? the part must have hit close to home.
In his defence, weird things do happen at funerals, why he felt the need to relate his experience can be due to the tremendous stress he was under.
Farrah was ill for quite a long time, all the false reports of her impending death, watching her go down hill every day and being unable to help her in any way.
We all will someday have a parent, child ,spouse that fights for life for months. They will amaze us with their will to live. We can do nothing to help them, no amount of money or fame will turn back the clock.
When your loved one is finally overtaken with the inevitable and the stress is gone, people have a time of adjustment to the loss of Adrenalin and flight or fight. Some of the survivors find their immune system has been lowered due to the sudden loss of stress.
Odd what Ryan tells about, but not unusual as their son was up to his neck in problems.
I don't think Ryan is a Woody Allen kind of person, I think he was discombobulated with all he had to handle and needed to tell his daughter how beautiful she is. And get some kind of amusing story to break up the stark reality of what he was doing.