As cult classic Dirty Dancing aired this weekend, hunky star, Patrick Swayze was remembered by his wife Lisa Niemi Swayze.
Playing moody dance teacher Johnny, who teaches and falls in love with Baby, it’s definitely one of the late star’s most memorable roles.
Swayze was only 34 when he played Johnny and the film’s final “lift” is one of the most famous dance scenes in history.
Sadly, he died in 2009 aged 57 after an almost two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
His wife, Lisa, was with him at the end and describes her real-life romance as a pair of young dancers.
(Image: WireImage)
The couple met in 1970 when she was 14 and Patrick’s mother was her dance teacher. They got married just five years later and were together until his death.
She told Entertainment Tonight: “The first time Buddy [his nickname] and I danced together was at a school exhibition. We walked out on stage.
“I looked in his eyes, it was like everything came alive.”
(Image: Getty Images)
In Lisa’s book Worth Fighting For, she wrote: “You spend every day fighting for that person’s life. I know that he spent every day fighting for his own.
“My last words to Patrick? ‘I love you,’ and those were his last words to me.”
Writing about his final moments, Lisa poignantly said: “In the quiet of Monday morning, September 14, I looked at his face and listened to the tiny sips of air he was taking, I didn’t want to leave the room.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was afraid that suddenly he’d be afraid. I lay back at Buddy’s side, I held his hand and felt his pulse again … was it? … was it? And then he didn’t breathe anymore.”
Speaking about her grief, she said: “When you lose someone, you never stop loving them and it’s…I feel like I have a different relationship with him now.
“It’s just, he’s not physically present, you know what I mean?”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
