Tony Bennett's wife, Susan Benedetto, speaks out for the first time since his death on what would've been his 97th birthday.
In a sit-down chat with Hoda Kotb on Thursday, Susan was joined by one of Tony's four children, Danny, and revealed the moving final words that he said to her.
"That he loved me," she shared."Yeah. He would wake up every day and still say that. He woke up happy every day. Even if he had had a bad day or night, he didn’t remember it. That was the only blessing. He woke up happy. And he’s just like, 'Susan. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.' And he would say that to me all the time."
Susan and Tony were together for more than 20 years before marrying in 2007. Susan took on her husband's legal surname, Benedetto, rather than his stage name. , Tony revealed that his first encounter with Susan occurred when her parents attended one of his 1966 performances in New York City and joined the singer for a photo op backstage. Susan's mother was pregnant with her at the time.
Susan went on to meet Tony -- 40 years her senior -- in person at one of his shows in 1985 when she was 19 years old and serving as the president of a local fan club for the musician. "It tickled me that someone of her age was so devoted to my music," Tony penned in his memoir."I not only agreed to say hello to her backstage but asked her to be my date for the evening, and that's how it all really began, foreshadowed by a backstage photo taken in 1966!""He performed to everybody," she said."He never saw generation gaps or anything and, so, privately we didn't either. We just absolutely loved each other and he was my life.
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