Amanda Kloots’ bond with her son is growing by the day. ET’s Nischelle Turner recently spoke to the 39-year-old fitness instructor about how she’s managed being a single mom since her husband, Nick Cordero’s, death due to complications of COVID-19 last year. She and the late actor share a son, 2-year-old Elvis.
“I have a lot of help. I couldn’t do it without my help,” Kloots told ET of being a single mom, a topic she touches on in her new book, Live Your Life. “I have five jobs. I’m working around the clock and then I spend every single second I can with Elvis. I have a great group of friends that run to my aid and rescue as much as possible, and my family.”
One of those five jobs is as co-host of The Talk, a job she began back in January. For Kloots, the gig was the perfect follow-up to her time as a performer in New York City.
“Living 19 years in New York City, performing on Broadway, doing television, film, dancing as a Radio City Rockette, performing, being on sets and things, is nothing new to my life,” she explained. “Even when I did my fitness business, I was constantly promoting morning shows and talk shows.”
All of that experience made Kloots feel “at home” the first time she guest co-hosted the daytime talk show in October. Now that she’s officially been named a co-host, Kloots considers the job “a blessing” amid her life as a single parent.
“I get to go to a family every day and I get to have conversations with… adults, something I don’t get to do at home,” she said of co-hosts Carrie Ann Inaba, Sheryl Underwood and Elaine Welteroth. “That sounds maybe trivial, but not to a single mom who is otherwise talking about trash trucks.”
“To go and spend an hour of my day feeling good and talking about adult conversations is a lifesaver,” she continued. “… I lost a family and now I have a new family. It’s been a godsend.”
When she gets home from work, though, it’s all about her little guy.
“Elvis and I have a really special bond,” Kloots told ET of the toddler. “He’s a love bug and I think that we’re gonna grow up to be quite the pair.”
Amid all their cuddle sessions and musical mornings, Kloots makes sure to tell Elvis about his dad every chance she gets.
“I tell him so much. I am just so persistent [about] keeping him aware that his dada is around,” she said. “We listen to Nick’s music all the time. As soon as I put on ‘Live Your Life,’ he starts banging his head like he’s in a rock band. It’s the cutest thing. We have pictures of Nick everywhere. He kisses this one every night before we go to bed. Before I put him in his crib, I tell him [about] the dreams that he’s going to have and they always entail Nick taking him on some sort of adventure.”
“We talk about Nick all the time,” Kloots continued. “It’s hard to say… what he knows or what he thinks, but I do think that he knows that Dada is somewhere. I think that Nick comes and visits him and spends time with him. I really do.”
