Patrick Swayze's Widow: 'It's Not Getting Better'

Nearly 7 months after Patrick Swayze’s death, “it’s not getting better” for widow Lisa Niemi, she says. She discusses her grief, her husband’s death, and their life together with the Times of London.

• Her emotions: “I have a myriad of feelings. Some are extreme, some are a general malaise, sometimes it’s like someone has poured gasoline on me and set me on fire.”
• His last days: “We told each other we loved each other over and over again. I never left the room without telling him. It still didn’t feel like enough.”

• Media attention: “Pretty much every minute they were saying he was dead, or dying; he was mistakenly killed off on Twitter. It was very hurtful: When you’re with someone in the last part of their life, the ability to hope is everything.”
• Marriage problems: “For me the worst thing about him was the drinking. He had a different personality when he drank that much.” It wasn’t until after she briefly left him that Swayze quit drinking.
• Sex symbol: “I never saw him as sexy. I remember soon after we married I looked at him and was surprised how good-looking he was. He didn’t want to be recognized for something as superficial as being a sex symbol.”

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