How 'The Masked Singer' Helped John Schneider Get Through His 'Worst Year'
John Schneider
After finishing second in the finale of The Masked Singer season 10, The Dukes of Hazzard actor John Schneider revealed how the experience helped him get through a very tough year.
The 63-year-old took the stage of the competition show as the Donut, only finishing behind Ne-Yo in the final episode. But after losing his wife Alicia to breast cancer this past February, Schneider said that the experience "really helped" him.
"I'm a pretty strong guy but I'm also a very emotional guy," he said to People. "Being out there on that stage dressed like a donut, singing some of the greatest songs ever written and having people respond to the songs and the performance with no notion that it was me, really, really helped John Schneider."
Schneider went on, "It really helped me get through the worst year of my life. So I'm delighted to have done it."
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The actor also saw it as an opportunity "to honor Alicia, to be able to honor people who are grieving, maybe educate people" through Masked Singer's huge audience.
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As for what directly drew him to join the popular show, Schneider stated that The Masked Singer was something Alicia specifically wanted him to do. He told the publication of how it felt participating in it after her death: "I just had to kind of look toward heaven and kind of laugh because, of course, she still runs things but further away."
Schneider and Alicia first began dating in 2015, sometime after he filed for divorce from his second wife, Elly Castle, although the divorce wasn't finalized until 2019. After their divorce, Schneider and Alicia tied the knot the same year, and they were together until the latter's death on Feb. 22, 2023.
Following her passing, Schneider penned on Facebook: "My beautiful Smile is pain free, living in her new body alongside Jesus."
He also urged at the time, "Hug those you love tight and let them know how you feel. We always did."
Next: The Dukes of Hazzard's John Schneider on Dealing With Grief on First Christmas After Wife's Death
