CNN anchor Anderson Cooper could not hold back tears when speaking to the woman whose young husband had just died from coronavirus.
Anderson, 52, broke down in tears discussing the beautiful note Jonathan Coehlo, 32, left for his wife Katie and their two young kids just before he died.
Filled with emotion from the outset of the interview, as Katie also fought to hold back tears, Anderson needed a few moments to compose himself.
He continued: “He wrote a note.”
“Part of it reads, ‘I love you guys with all my heart and you’ve given me the best life I could have ever asked for.’ ”
The letter from Jonathan told Katie “seeing you be the best mom to the kids is the greatest thing I’ve experienced.”
The couple had Braedyn, 2, and Penelope, 10 months, who have both also tested positive to coronavirus.
It also read: “I’m so lucky.”
“Don’t hold back and if you meet someone know that if they love you and the kids that I love that for you.
“Always be happy no matter what.”
Crying throughout the interview, a grieving Katie told Anderson, “it’s very surreal.”
She added: “I keep thinking in my head, there’s going to be a time where I’ve been without my husband longer than I’ve been with him, and it hurts a lot.”
That comment caught Anderson off guard and he took a beat to reply that he experienced that thought himself in his lifetime, perhaps referring to his mother Gloria Vanerbilt, a prominent New York socialite who died last year.
Katie and the kids had been able to FaceTime at points during Jonathan’s hospital stay, Katie made the fateful decision to let him rest as he was being weaned off a ventilator.
She said: “I asked if I should FaceTime him or let him rest, and [the nurse] said, ‘You know what, why don’t we let him rest and I’ll tell him you called, and if he wakes up, I’ll call you.'”
The hospital then called her at 2am that morning and “before I even answered it, I just said, ‘Oh, God,’ ” Katie told Anderson through tears.
She explained how friends and family had been helping Katie with the children especially Brayden who has cerebral palsy.
But thankfully, Katie filmed a video of Brayden using a communicative device to say “my dad’s my best friend.”
Katie said: “That’s the last video the nurse showed my husband before he went into cardiac arrest.”
Anderson tried to console her saying: “To say I’m so sorry for your loss feels so small, but I think there are a lot of people who are praying for you and thinking of you and whose hearts are breaking with you.”
“I wish you peace and strength in the days ahead.”
The anchor did share information about a GoFundMe page which was set up to raise money to help Katie with her living expenses.
One of the organizers told People, Jonathan had actually already survived cancer twice before his coronavirus diagnosis.
As of April 25, the GoFundMe page has raised $637,702.
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