What Happened to Amanda Kloots’s Husband, Nick Cordero?
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Amanda Kloots has officially made it to the Season 30 finale of Dancing with the Stars. This week, Kloots performed an emotional contemporary routine with her partner Alan Bersten, dedicated to Kloots’s late husband Nick Cordero.
Cordero sadly passed away of COVID-19 in July 202. The song Kloots danced to on Monday night was one of the first songs Cordero wrote. Some viewers might not know much about Cordero, who was a Broadway performer.
Who Was Amanda Kloots’ Husband Nick Cordero?
Nick Cordero was a Canadian actor and singer who made his Broadway debut in Rock of Ages in 2012. He went on to star as Cheech in Bullets Over Broadway in 2014, earning a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also appeared in Waitress and A Bronx Tale.
Kloots and Cordero met while working on Bullets Over Broadway, with Kloots performing in the ensemble. They were married in 2017, and Kloots gave birth to their son Elvis Eduardo Cordero in 2019. In March 2020, Cordero was admitted to the hospital with an initial diagnosis of pneumonia.
Cordero was later diagnosed with COVID-19. Complications from the illness led to Cordero’s leg being amputated due to a blood clot. He also suffered lung damage. The actor spent over three months in the hospital before passing away on July 5, 2020, at age 41.
“Nick was in a deep coma, so I would sit there by him, and all I could really do was grab his hand,” Kloots told Bersten while preparing for their contemporary routine. “But to me, the power of holding someone’s hand is just so… like, there’s nothing like it. Because you know you have somebody that has you. And I just wanted him to know that I had him.”
Kloots explained that they made the decision to “slowly take him off all the machines,” and they played his song “Live Your Life” all day. Kloots and Bersten danced to this song, performed by Lenii. They earned a perfect score from the judges for the hauntingly beautiful performance.
SEE ALSO: FRANKIE AVALON SINGS LIVE ON ‘DWTS’ AS AMANDA KLOOTS EARNS HIGHEST SCORE OF THE SEASON
How Else Has Kloots Paid Tribute to Her Late Husband?
This week’s dance isn’t the only thing Kloots has done to pay tribute to Cordero since his death. Earlier this year, she published a book titled Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero.
On the one-year anniversary of Cordero’s death in July, Kloots posted several photos and videos of Cordero on Instagram. “We only had a few short years together but they were filled with so much love, laughter, adventure, dreams, change and growth,” she wrote. “It was my ‘Nick era’ and I’ll have it forever.”
In June, Kloots and Cordero’s son Elvis turned 2 years old. She marked the occasion on social media, recalling Elvis’ birth. “Nick was immediately the cutest Dad and we both couldn’t believe our little miracle had finally arrived,” she wrote. “Two years later I still look into his soulful eyes and thank God for our miracle. Happy Birthday Elvis!”
Shortly after Cordero’s death, actor Robert Neary (who understudied Cordero’s role in A Bronx Tale) created a petition to rename the Longacre Theater to the Nick Cordero Theater. The petition now has over 34,000 signatures.
