Ryan Seacrest has been spending lots of time with royalty lately. The host of “American Idol” and “Wheel of Fortune” has a jam-packed schedule, but can always make time for his six-year-old niece, Flora Marie. Lately, he’s been “catching up” on all of the Disney princess movies with her.

In an interview with People published on September 5, 2025, Seacrest, 50, said that following the escapades of princesses like Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine is just one of the reasons Flora, the daughter of Seacrest’s younger sister Meredith, has given him the title of “funcle” — a popular term for especially fun uncles.

Ryan Seacrest Says He Didn’t Get a Chance to See Most Disney Princess Movies When He Was a ‘Young Guy’

Seacrest has never been married and has no kids of his own, so he’s happy to pour his energy into being the best “funcle” he can be, periodically posting special moments spent with Flora.

“We watch Disney movies,” he told People. “I’m catching up. As a young guy, I didn’t see all the princess movies, so now I’m seeing all the princess movies, which is a lot of fun.”

In addition to bonding with his niece, watching the Disney princess movies may come in handy for Seacrest on “American Idol,” which features an annual Disney night each season. In 2025, judge Carrie Underwood followed in her predecessor Katy Perry’s footsteps by dressing up as the Disney princess Rapunzel.

Perry wore elaborate Disney Night costumes during her tenure, including dressing up as Cinderella in 2018 and 2024, Snow White in 2019, and Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” in 2022 (and falling out of her chair due to her large fin!), and Cinderella in 2018.

Ryan Seacrest Has Posted About How Proud He is to Be Flora’s ‘Funcle’

“I have a sweatshirt that my niece made, and I’m called the Funcle,” Seacrest told People. “It says ‘Funcle’ on it. I wear it proudly.”

In September 2024, Seacrest posted a selfie while wearing the custom gray sweatshirt, which says “Funcle Ry Ry.”

“I might have a few titles but ‘FUNcle Ry Ry’ has to be my favorite,” he captioned the photo.

In addition to watching Disney movies with Flora, Seacrest told People, “She loves to go get Shirley Temples. We do that, and she loves to try and get me to do gymnastics, and I’m failing.”

Ryan Seacrest Announced He Was a First-Time Uncle on ‘Live With Kelly & Ryan’

On December 11, 2018, Seacrest announced Flora’s birth on “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” the morning show he co-hosted with Kelly Ripa for six years, revealing that she was born six minutes after he got off the air the previous day.

Seacrest held up a sweet photo of his sister Meredith holding her newborn with her husband, Jimmy Leach, by their side in the hospital.

“I can’t even look at it, it makes me cry,” Seacrest admitted as Ripa and the audience swooned.

“The baby has such chubby little cheeks,” he continued, smiling broadly. “She’s so cute!”

He then hilariously said, “I learned so much in the last 24 hours about women and birth. Because, you’ll know all of this, but it was news to me. So she was on her way to the hospital at 6 a.m. She then had the baby at 10:06.”

“That’s incredible,” Ripa exclaimed, and Seacrest continued, “She went from a six to a 10 like that, they said. I didn’t know what that meant. But now I do know.”

The audience laughed as Seacrest marveled that Leach had told him he was “asked to participate” and was holding his wife’s leg as she delivered the baby.

Ripa then quipped, “I always say watching a baby come out is kind of like being in a nightclub in the daytime.”