There’s no amount of reps fitness teacher and health aficionado Amanda Kloots could’ve done to prepare for the untimely death of her husband, Broadway star Nick Cordero, due to COVID-19 in 2020.
“I tell everybody to get life insurance,” Kloots told Fox News Digital exclusively after teaching one of her AK Fitness classes at The Shade Hotel to celebrate Skechers’ new apparel store opening in Manhattan Beach and the Skechers X Amanda Kloots collaboration.
“The Talk” co-host documented her husband’s lengthy battle with COVID-19 on social media after the couple moved across the country in March 2020 from New York City to Los Angeles to begin their dream life together with their then-9-month-old son, Elvis.
But after 95 days in the hospital, dealing with complications like mini-strokes, blood clots, septic infections, a tracheostomy and even the amputation of his right leg, Cordero lost his battle on July 5, 2020.
AMANDA KLOOTS HONORS LATE HUSBAND NICK CORDERO IN NEW MEMOIR, SAYS HE ‘TRULY JUST LOVED LIFE’
Looking back, Kloots says she initially shrugged off her father’s suggestion to get life insurance.
“I was like, ‘Dad, OK, we’ll get life insurance,’ and Nick and I were so annoyed by my dad harping on us like, ‘Gotta get that life insurance!’” Kloots said. “I was just like, ‘OK, Dad!’ We just did it to appease him. And thank God we did. Listen to your parents!”
Last month, Kloots appeared on SoFi’s “Richer Lives” podcast to describe the expensive medical bills she’s still dealing with from Cordero’s fight to save his life.
“His whole body was being run by machines,” the Skechers brand ambassador said. “The ventilator alone was $3,000 a day… on top of the 20 other machines that were running his body. When I heard that, I immediately was like, ‘What am I going to do?’ So you can imagine what the total bill was.”
“I never thought I was going to lose my husband,” added Kloots, who revealed she hired a financial adviser to help deal with the bills. “Up until the day he passed away, I really thought we were going to make it. So I don’t think the financial magnitude really, really hit me until he passed away and calls were coming in…. Unfortunately, death is a business.”
“My medical bill for Nick came almost a year and a half later. I got a huge medical bill,” she added. “Surprise!”
“Because you think you’re invincible,” she said during the podcast. “You’re in your 40s. You’re like, ‘Nothing’s gonna happen to us. We’re fine. We’ve got time.’ We were just starting our lives.”
Although Kloots tries her best not to let her mind go to dark places now that she’s a single mom and Elvis’ sole provider, she’s realistic that life sometimes throws unexpected curveballs and it’s best to be ready for anything.
“I hate when my mind goes there,” she revealed when asked about being prepared if something were to happen to her now. “But also, it’s kind of inevitable as human beings your mind will go there, especially after you’ve experienced something like I did. Some trauma.”
The always smiling Kloots is doing her best to deal with her grief in the most positive way possible. Not only does she share a daily “AK Positive” thought of the day with her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, but she’s trying to change the way she looks at life for her and Elvis’ sake.
“You know, I think death taught me how to live,” Kloots added with a smile. “So I would just say that. What I do try to do every day is just to live my best life. Take the vacation, take the nap, take the job. Take Elvis with me. Just do it because you don’t know if you have tomorrow and that is how I live my life now.”
“And I think that would just be my advice is that you don’t know what’s going to happen later today, tomorrow, next week and with your family with loved ones, with friends. I don’t leave the house without looking my son in the eye and going, ‘I love you. I love you so much. Give me 10 kisses,’ and you know, he’ll wipe them off, and I’m like, ‘Don’t! Don’t!’ You know what I mean? It’s just: I live for every day.”
When Kloots does have a tough moment with grief, she tries her best to lace up her shoes and channel her emotions into healthy outlets, like combining work with her fitness.
“You get offered partnerships, and you’re like, ‘How do I make that make sense?’ but Skechers makes so much sense, it really, really does,” Kloots said.
“I would say I have dark days and I also go through dark periods. I’m really good at knowing when I’m down and then being like, ‘OK, how can I fix this? What can I do to help myself?’ because I’ll go through chunks of time where I’m literally driving in the car through tears saying my gratefuls like, ‘I am healthy. I have a beautiful child. I have a great job. I’m driving a car. It’s a sunny day, and I’m crying at the same time.”
“It’s really – it’s hard though. That is life. I think we’re all like that. When I’m in those positions, I do make sure that I take the time to do anything and everything I can to help myself. So, whether that’s going to some sort of new therapy, we’re making sure I’m working out every day. Sometimes in those dark days, I’m working out two to three times a day, and I’m taking classes because I need to be around people so that I’m not alone. I mean, seriously, I’ll go to a boxing class, and then I’ll go take dance class later on during the day just so that I’m surrounded by people and not in my own head.”
