Amanda Kloots received what she considered a sign from her late husband, Broadway actor Nick Cordero, the day before she launched her new podcast, "Good Grief." Kloots told The Post that while driving and feeling anxious about the podcast's debut, she spoke to Cordero, who died in July 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.
"I was driving around LA and I was feeling very nervous, and I was talking to Nick. I talk to him a lot in the car. And I was like, ‘Honey, I hope this is the right thing. Please just be with me . . . I hope people listen, I hope people like it,'" Kloots recalled.
Following her speech, her favorite song, "Dreams" by The Cranberries, began playing on the radio. Kloots interpreted this as a sign of support from Cordero.
"I literally was just like, ‘Thank you. That just gave me such a reassurance,'" she said. "Yes, that could be blown off by anyone as like, ‘Well that wasn’t a sign.’ But to me, that’s a sign. And it is a sign from him."
Cordero, 41, was in the ICU beginning in March 2020, where he was placed in a medically induced coma. His health battle included a leg amputation, two strokes, and sepsis.
Kloots, 44, maintained an Instagram live stream daily during Cordero's 95 days in the hospital, leading singalongs of his song "Live Your Life" in hopes of encouraging him to wake up. The initiative gained worldwide support.
Kloots has found that projects centered on grief can be challenging to market. "Grief is such a taboo topic still and people have a hard time talking about it because I think we’re used to burying our grief, but I really want to change that," she said. Her podcast "Good Grief" aims to create a space for discussing loss. Guests on the show include individuals who have lost children, fellow widows and widowers, and those who date people experiencing grief.
Kloots, who founded the workout brand AK! Fitness, noted that social media was a source of support for her when Cordero was in the ICU. She now wears a diamond ring made from his ashes.
She found she was ready to date again about a year and a half after Cordero's death. Her son, Elvis, was 13 months old when Cordero died; he is now 7 years old. Kloots continues to keep Cordero's memory alive by speaking about him daily with their son.
Kloots also released a memoir, "Live Your Life," and has expressed interest in it becoming a movie, with Adam Driver potentially playing Cordero and Amanda Seyfried portraying her. Kloots recently met Seyfried and felt she could embody the roles of a Broadway performer, fitness enthusiast, and mother.