Late Hollywood icon Patrick Swayze‘s wife, Lisa Niemi, opened up about getting remarried in 2014 after his 2009 death from pancreatic cancer, and how it didn’t go over well with his legion of fans.
“Yes, I got a lot of flack— it’s like, ‘How dare you.’ There are some pretty rabid Patrick fans out there who think I’m evil, just don’t like me because I was married to him. So, there was a lot of flack that came on that, a lot of criticism, and you just learn to deal with it and move on,” Lisa, 67, revealed to Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes on the Monday, April 8, episode of the “Amy and T.J.” podcast
“But it’s like — I was so tempted so many times to say, ‘Hey girlfriend, stand in my shoes, tell me about it. Go ahead — tell me just because I lost my husband that I don’t love him anymore.’ How could you say that? Ridiculous,” she added.
Lisa and Patrick fell in love as teenagers while going to high school in Houston, Texas. The pair wed in 1975 and were married until the Roadhouse star’s death at the age of 57. The couple starred together in the 1987 smash Dirty Dancing and Steel Dawn later that same year. They worked together again on the 2004 film Beat Angel.
The talented dancer met now-husband Albert DePrisco “about three years” after Patrick died via mutual friends. “If we had met before then, it wouldn’t have happened, but after three years we were about ready,” she said, as Albert was divorced. “We were introduced by longtime friends that we had both known for 30 years who vouched for the other person.”
Lisa and Albert married in front of 50 close family and friends in May 2014. “I have to say, that the love I have for Patrick was never in conflict or competition with my feelings for Albert. That is until Albert asked me to marry him!” she told People at the time of their nuptials, adding it was “a leap of faith” to accept his proposal.
“I found myself grappling with my feelings of having been married to Patrick for 34 years! Privately, I flipped, I flopped. Yes, get married, no, don’t get married,” she recalled.
“Albert knew I still loved Patrick and would always love him, and told me, ‘And I know you love me, and I love you.’ How could I not marry this man? As I had time to process the change my life was going to take, my doubts became less and less, and I became more and more sure,” Lisa explained about her new marriage.
Nearly 10 years later, Lisa told Amy, 51, and T.J, 46, “Patrick is still with me. I still have a relationship with him. He’s physically not here, [but] every day he’s with me and I feel him there. What was really unusual was … I really fell in love with Albert, and it didn’t affect — it was interesting to see how it didn’t affect my love for Patrick one bit.”
“Just because you lose a loved one doesn’t mean you stop loving, and you don’t have that love to give,” Lisa added. “And I think Albert and I were fortunate to find someone to give that love to.”
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