10 Years After The Star’s Death, Struggles—And His Passion For Life
Patrick Swayze was a classically trained ballet dancer and a rugged cowboy—a natural movie star who could speak volumes without saying a word. But the man who captured hearts in 1987’s Dirty Dancing and 1990’s Ghost privately grappled with demons, including alcoholism and self-doubt stemming from his fractious childhood. Swayze was “always trying to control his emotions and the thoughts that were going through his head,” recalls his wife of 34 years, Lisa Niemi Swayze. “It hurt him in a lot of ways.”
Now Lisa and others close to Swayze are shining a new light on his remarkable life—from his personal struggles and successes to his courage facing pancreatic cancer in his final months—in a new documentary, I Am Patrick Swayze, produced by Derik Murray of Network Entertainment and directed by Adrian Buitenhuis. It premieres on Aug. 18, which would have been Swayze’s 67th birthday, on Paramount Network. Before his death on Sept. 14, 2009, Swayze “showed himself to be a true hero in how he approached his disease,” says Lisa, 63, who spoke further with People about her life with Patrick. “The amount of lovingness and kindness, I saw wisdom in him that was beyond anything I’d seen before.” Over the last 10 years, “I still feel like he’s in my life every day,” she adds. “When you move past the extreme pain of losing someone you love, you actually become close in a different way.”
This story is from the August 26, 2019 edition of People.
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This story is from the August 26, 2019 edition of People.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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