Actor John Schneider has spoken about his heart-breaking final conversation with his wife.
The Dukes of Hazzard star lost his spouse, Alicia Allain, to cancer in February and stayed close by during her last moments on earth.
In his first interview about his untimely loss, he also spoke about the tragic ‘lie’ he told his wife before she passed.
Prior to her sudden passing, Allain had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2020, and had been struggling as her symptoms worsened.
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Schneider had been helping with her treatment and stayed as close as possible to his wife, until she passed away in February of this year.
Even in her final moments, the Dukes of Hazzard star tried to comfort his spouse and ‘lied’ that he would be ok if she needed to go.
"I, of course, told her it was OK," he told Fox News, as he recalled the heart-breaking moment.
Turning to her, he then said: "'If you're tired, if you want to go see your grandma, you want to go see your grandpa, if you want to go, then it's OK. You go.'”
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“And that was all the truth. … But then I lied, because I said, 'Don't worry about me; I'll be OK.'”
He then explained to the outlet that he knew that he would need to grieve and that ‘OK is a very long way away.'
Tragically, the actor also told his wife that he hopes to be reunited with her one day in the afterlife.
As he spoke about the devastating moment, the actor said that he told his wife about his future plans for them.
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“The last thing I said to her was, 'I love you desperately, and I've got multiple sets of very long-term plans for you,'” he explained to the outlet.
Schneider then added: And that's true, because eternity's a very long time, and I believe it. I'm counting on it."
The actor added that he’d not seen his wife take her last breath, with her parents and daughter present instead.
Touchingly, he claimed that this ‘helped’ him through the grieving process and even revealed that he thinks his wife ‘waited’ until he wasn’t in the room.
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"I'm quite sure that she waited for me not to be there, because I think she knew I couldn't handle it," he revealed
"I'm grateful for that, and then part of the pull-pull thing [of grief] is not wanting to admit that it happened," he admitted, adding: "I still wake up in the morning, and I reach for her in groggy sleep. I keep my eyes closed, and I reach over, hoping maybe this was a dream."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Sex and Relationships, US News, Cancer, Health