Amanda Kloots bravely reflects on love, loss, and life with her husband, Broadway star, and Tony Award nominee Nick Cordero, whose public battle with COVID-19 and tragic death made headlines around the world.
In
March 2020, Broadway star and Tony Award nominee Nick
Cordero was hospitalized for what he and his wife, Amanda Kloots, believed to
be a severe case of pneumonia. Entering the hospital, they had every reason to
believe that Nick—a young father and otherwise healthy man—would return home.
After an eventual diagnosis of COVID-19 that led to Nick’s being placed on a
ventilator, Amanda took to documenting their journey on social media, showing
the dangers COVID-19 posed to everyone, regardless of age. Her updates quickly
captivated millions, inspiring people around the globe to dance each day to
Nick’s song “Live Your Life” and offer positive thoughts and prayer. When he
passed away after ninety-five grueling days in the ICU, the world grieved for Amanda,
her infant son, Elvis, and the future COVID-19 had snatched away from them.
Live
Your Life is
the story of Nick and Amanda’s life together—of their beautiful relationship,
of Nick’s dramatic fight for survival, of those sudden tragic months that
permanently changed her world and ours—and of their interrupted future as a
family. From the confusing early days of his illness to searching for signs of
hope in every update from the doctors to the healing sound of Elvis’s laughter,
Amanda details how she approached even the most devastating moments with the personal
optimism and faith that have shaped her life. Written with her sister Anna
Kloots, who was with her every step of this journey, Live Your Life explores
how Amanda’s willingness to accept help from an entire community of
people—friends, family, and even total strangers—played a vital role in
enduring this hardship. In the process, she offers a touching meditation on how
even the worst times have silver linings that deepen our connections to the
world around us and to the people who matter most.
What
emerges is an inspiring and unexpectedly uplifting message for life in the time
of COVID, a vision of courage for anyone coping with overwhelming loss or the
collective trauma of what the pandemic has taken from us. A poignant reflection
on love, hope, motherhood, and the transformational power of music, Live
Your Life is a love letter to Nick and a reminder that, sometimes,
celebrating life today is the only path through tomorrow’s darkness.
Live Your Life includes 16 pages of color photos exclusive to the book.
Amanda Kloots is a celebrity fitness trainer known for her positive and empowering attitude, and a cohost of The Talk. A former Broadway dancer and Radio City Rockette, she met her late husband, Nick Cordero, when they scarred together in Bullets over Broadway. She and her son, Elvis, live in California.
Anna Kloots is an American writer and photographer often seen dancing down the streets of Paris, where she currently lives. Her writing candidly recounts her decade traveling, her relationships, and her observations on life as an expat. Anna always adds a little sparkle to anything she does, chinks outside the box, and drinks champagne every day.
