Amanda Kloots Honors Nick Cordero on 5-Year Anniversary: “I Miss Seeing You as a Dad”
From emotional Instagram posts to a diamond made from his ashes, Kloots is keeping Nick Cordero’s memory alive — and raw — five years after his passing.
Table of Contents
Los Angeles, July 5 EST: Amanda Kloots doesn’t do subtle tributes. Five years after the loss of Nick Cordero, she honored him the way he lived — loud, honest, and full of song.
Kloots posted a deeply personal Instagram video: Nick singing his unofficial anthem “Live Your Life,” spliced with heartstring-pulling moments of herself and their now six-year-old son, Elvis. The caption? Equal parts raw and reflective.
“Damn, I miss you,” she wrote. “I even miss that annoying sound you made when you’d push air through your teeth.”
This wasn’t a curated eulogy. It was messy, tender, and real — the kind of post that stops you mid-scroll and leaves you staring at your screen, gut-first.
The Broadway Star Who Left Too Soon
Cordero, a towering presence on stage in Bullets Over Broadway, Waitress, and Rock of Ages, died on July 5, 2020, after a grueling 95-day COVID battle. He was 41. The pandemic had barely begun to show its teeth when Kloots started posting daily updates from the hospital, turning what should’ve been private devastation into a kind of shared vigil.
Five years later, she’s still navigating that grief publicly — not because she has to, but because she knows she’s not the only one carrying it.
In her latest post, Kloots also reflected on what Nick never got: time. “You only had 10 months with Elvis,” she wrote. “I feel guilty that I get to raise him when you don’t.”
A Legacy in Converse and Lookalike Genes
Elvis, who was barely crawling when his father passed, has become a living mirror of Nick — and Kloots knows it. She’s shared side-by-sides. Talked about how he moves like his dad. How he laughs like him. How it’s sometimes comforting, sometimes cruel.
“Nick is still here,” she’s said before. “In the way Elvis looks at me. In how he dances to his dad’s music. In the little things.”
And Broadway hasn’t forgotten either. There’s a “Live Your Life Pie” on the Waitress board. There are scholarships, stage dedications, and fans who still tag Kloots in videos of Nick belting it out.
From Widow to Wearable Tribute
Kloots has never shied away from making grief tangible. Earlier this year, she told People she’s planning to turn Nick’s ashes into a custom black diamond ring — equal parts personal ritual and fashion statement. It’s a symbol of his on-stage style, sure, but it’s also something she can carry. Literally.
“It’s how I bring him with me,” she said. “Every day.”
And she’s not kidding. Whether it’s Father’s Day, Elvis’s birthday, or just a Tuesday that hits too hard, Kloots keeps Nick’s memory in the room — not frozen in time, but moving right alongside them.
The Confession That Hit Home
Earlier this year, Kloots also admitted something few grieving spouses are willing to say out loud.
“I wasn’t a good wife,” she told People. “I wasn’t as supportive as I should’ve been… and then it was too late.”
It’s a gut-punch — not because it’s scandalous, but because it’s familiar. Regret lives next door to grief, and Kloots has never pretended otherwise.
A New Kind of Anniversary
Kloots has called July 5 Nick’s “new birthday,” reframing the day not just as an ending, but as a kind of second act. It’s not a celebration. But it’s not just mourning either. It’s both — because grief doesn’t edit itself down for Instagram.
What makes her tributes resonate isn’t just the love story. It’s how unfiltered the love still is.
Five years later, Nick Cordero is still a name that carries weight — in theater, in music, and in the quiet moments of a family still figuring out what comes after.
New Jersey Times Is Your Source: The Latest In Politics, Entertainment, Business, Breaking News, And Other News. Please Follow Us On Facebook, Instagram, And Twitter To Receive Instantaneous Updates. Also Do Checkout Our Telegram Channel @Njtdotcom For Latest Updates.
