John Schneider Lost His Wife to Cancer — Here's an Update on How He's Doing Now
Published Dec. 21 2023, 10:16 a.m. ET
The Gist:
- John Schneider from Dukes of Hazzard lost his wife Alicia Allain to breast cancer in early 2023.
- He has said a lot about their relationship and his struggles with grief following her passing.
- John appeared on The Masked Singer and was revealed to be Donut.
Actor John Schneider of Dukes of Hazzard fame — he was also revealed to be Donut on The Masked Singer — lost his wife to breast cancer in Feb. 2023.
As one could imagine, he has been deeply affected by this loss. Read on to learn more about John's partner Alicia Allain and what he has to say about her life and death — as well as how he is coping months after she passed.
John Schneider married his wife after she was diagnosed with cancer.
John is very transparent about how hard it has been to lose Alicia.
"I miss every damn thing, every day," he told People in Aug. "I have to get to the point where I look around and see where she is, not where she's not. And I'm trying to do that, but that's hard. Somehow I love her more every minute, but with that, somehow I miss her more every minute."
The couple met in 2014, and as John tells it, they felt an instant connection.
"I knew that I had met my person," he said. "I was smitten and it was wonderful." John added, "We were kindred spirits from the beginning and made everything look easy."
Unexpectedly, Alicia was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.
"We decided to get married after her diagnosis, not before, which I think speaks a lot to us," John said in the very raw interview.
He went on to heartbreakingly recount, "The thing that hurts me the most about it is that she had to endure pain. She had to endure fear. In my overly chivalrous mind, those are the two things I'm supposed to keep her from ever having to experience, and I couldn't."
Alicia Allain's cancer went into remission, but returned in 2021.
Following a grueling hospitalization, Alicia spent six days in hospice care at home, and died in Feb. 2023.
Now, John is keeping her memory alive and honoring her memory with an album We're Still Us and via a clothing line called AliciaWear.
He also posts to his social media regularly about his journey healing from his wife's death.
"Grief has many stages. It’s important not to get stuck in any of them," he said in a recent lengthy post about choosing joy rather than despair.
The inspiring share went on to say, "Helping others get stronger can’t help but circle back and make us stronger in the process. I am going to hug someone today who needs it. I am going to cry with someone today who is suffering. Today I am going to use my weakness to help someone get stronger…And in so doing… I will get stronger myself. We are going to make it. Together. We don’t have to do this part alone. We can’t."
