Amanda Kloots shared her late husband Nick Cordero’s battle with Covid-19 with the world. From when the Broadway star was first moved to the ICU and his rapid deterioration, Kloots gave her thousands of Instagram followers a glimpse into the devastating effects of the virus — and her own grief. 

But there was so much more that wasn’t streamed, Kloots said in an episode of Next Question with Katie Couric. She spoke to us about her last moments with Cordero and why she’s glad she made his fight with Covid-19 public.

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In March 2020, Cordero seemed lethargic, but Kloots assumed he was just depressed that the pandemic had shuttered Broadway and brought his creative life to a standstill. It wasn’t until he fainted that she brought him to an emergency room and an X-ray revealed what looked like shards of glass in his lungs.

“He didn’t have a cough, he didn’t have a fever, he didn’t ache — nothing,” Kloots told Katie on the latest episode of Next Question. “And those were all the signs that you were seeing on the news.”

Kloots said she began talking about Cordero’s illness to spread awareness about a virus that, at the time, not much was known about. 

“I thought, I have to talk about this because if there’s anyone else laying on their couch, just tired, maybe they should listen and get checked and tested,” she said. “I thank God that I did that because I feel like it helped a lot of people just be aware of the situation.”

From there, Cordero’s condition took a turn, Kloots said.  

They went to the hospital per his doctor’s urging. “I didn’t hug him. I didn’t kiss him. I dropped him off at the corner of Cedars-Sinai. I didn’t even know if he said goodbye to Elvis,” Kloots said of that pivotal moment. “I mean, we really thought I’d pick him up in a couple of hours. I went for a walk and, of course, those hours turned into [him saying], ‘they want to keep me overnight.’”

That was the last time she’d see Cordero out of the hospital, and the last time she saw him as he truly was. 

“I saw him again, of course, but he could barely even open his eyes,” Kloots said. “It’s so hard. I hate thinking about that moment. And it only makes me, every time I say goodbye to Elvis — even if his nanny is just taking him to music class — I hug and kiss that little boy and let him know I love him. Because you just never know.”

Soon after, Kloots would hear Cordero’s voice for the last time. Cordero called her at 4 a.m., as she held their infant son Elvis, and told her that he was going to be put on a ventilator. At the time, Kloots wasn’t sure how to process that, and so the couple told each other “I love you” before hanging up. 

She learned later from a nurse that before Cordero was put on a ventilator, the actor said he was “really scared that he would never see his wife or kid again,” said Kloots. It was devastating to hear, but Kloots also thought it was a “beautiful moment” because in the days before Cordero died she was able to be by his side. 

She admitted it’s painful to think about that moment now, but at the same time, she never wants to forget this journey, which is in part why she wrote her memoir, Live Your Life. “I mean, unless it’s written down, as time goes on, you just forget things. And this is something I don’t ever want to forget. I don’t ever want to pass by this story and who Nick was and how hard he fought, because he truly did. He fought so hard.”

Listen to the episode now to learn more about Kloots and her new memoir, Live Your Life.