Amanda Kloots has found reasons to celebrate following the death of late husband Nick Cordero.
During a panel conversation Wednesday with Kelly Rizzo — who also lost her husband, Bob Saget — the Talk co-host, 40, told PEOPLE that she’s adopted a new tradition of marking Cordero’s birthday on the anniversary of his death.
“The most beautiful thing in the world happened last year. It was the worst day. It was almost like, it felt like the day actually again. I laid in bed, and I cried my eyes for the good half of the day,” she recounted. “And then my girlfriend called me, and she was like, ‘Oh my God, I had the most amazing dream of Nick.’
In the dream, Cordero was “so happy and so smiley” because it was his birthday — “the one day I get to come back on earth and celebrate everybody,” he said in the vision.
“And she told me that dream and in an instant, I completely reframed his death day as his new birthday. And I instantly got out of bed,” she continued. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, if Nick is celebrating this day, then Elvis and I need to always celebrate this day as his new birthday and that he is still with us and he will always be with us.’
“And this doesn’t have to be a day where I cry my eyes out. This can be a day where I get a cake and we sing happy new birthday to dad. So I think that definitely will become a tradition for us,” Kloots explained.
Kloots shares 2½-year-old son Elvis Eduardo with Cordero, who died of complications with COVID-19 in July 2020, following a months-long hospitalization with the virus. He was 41.
The Dancing with the Stars alum previously struck up a friendship with Rizzo, 42, who also lost her husband when Saget died in January at age 65 due to head trauma.
“New friends in a club we didn’t ever think we’d be in. So grateful to now know this strong woman, sharing stories only helps this rollercoaster we are on,” Kloots wrote on Instagram, to which Rizzo commented: “If I’m going to be in this club, I’m grateful to have genuine caring people like you by my side.”
ORDER A COPY OF ROB’S NEW BEST SELLING BOOK! Called “America’s Number ONE Gossip Columnist” by The National Enquirer. Rob ‘Naughty But Nice’ Shuter breaks celebrity news every day on his website NaughtyGossip.com where he delivers all the dish about the stars we love in his naughty but nice signature style. You can also catch him co-hosting and breaking celebrity news on Good Day New York, The Today Show, The Talk, Wendy Williams Show, CNN, Extra and Z100’s ‘Elvis Duran.’ Previously, Rob was the Huffington Post’s only celebrity columnist and the former executive editor of OK! Magazine. Rob has also hosted his own Saturday night talk show on Mark Cuban’s channel and his own daily morning show, ‘The Gossip Table,’ on VH1! Breaking some of the biggest entertainment stories, including Jamie Lynn Spears’s pregnancy news, Britney’s first post-meltdown interview, Eva Longoria’s wedding, and baby exclusives for Jessica Alba, Tori Spelling and Mathew McConaughey’s tots, Rob always knows where to find the best scoop. Before Rob was one of the world’s most successful entertainment reporters, he was a publicist working for Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, P. Diddy, Jessica Simpson and Jon Bon Jovi! Now he is bringing all this experience to his new show on I HEART MEDIA in his unique cheeky way, that is always a pinch and never a punch!