The year has been difficult for actor and musician John Schneider.

The former “Dukes of Hazzard” hero has struggled with grief since his wife, Alicia, lost her fight with cancer on February 23. She was 53 years old.

Schneider recently discussed his final remarks to his wife before her passing with People. During their farewells, he confessed to having embellished the truth.

“I of course told her it was OK,” he told the entertainment news outlet. “‘If you’re tired, if you want to go see your grandma, you want to go see your grandpa, if you want to go, then it’s OK. You go.’ And that was all the truth.

“But then I lied, because I said, ‘Don’t worry about me; I’ll be OK.’

“That was a lie I had to tell, but she knew it. ‘OK’ is a long way away.”

As part of his grieving process, Schneider has done a number of things to keep his wife’s name and legacy living.

He launched a clothing line, AliciaWear, with T-shirts and other merchandise bearing phrases his “Smile” — as he still refers to her — would say, such as “Love That” and “Go Do.”

Schneider continues to post daily Facebook love letters to his wife.

And he is planning to release an album, “We’re Still Us,” that documents his voyage of mourning with music, Entertainment Weekly reported.

People reported that he received his first tattoo at age 63, a thumbprint of Alicia’s where her thumb used to settle when they held hands. CONTINUE READING…