Gilda Radner with her husband, Gene Wilder, shortly before her death from ovarian cancer in 1989.
She was only 42.
In her memoir, It’s Always Something, Gilda wrote about the brutal reality of cancer treatment — months of chemotherapy, radiation, fear, pain, and still somehow, hope.
She and Gene had dreamed of having a child together. They conceived, but as her cancer was beginning, they lost the baby.
It makes this photo even more heartbreaking.
Gene wasn’t just her husband.
He was her safe place.
Her partner.
Her protector.
Her soulmate.
Gilda spent her life making people laugh, even when her own life became unimaginably hard.
And Gene carried her love forward after she was gone.
Some love stories are beautiful because they last forever.
Others are beautiful because they mattered so deeply while they were here.