Patrick Swayze’s widow Lisa Niemi still talks to his ghost.

She told Us Weekly on Friday that she chats with him all the time which helps her feel less lonely. ‘I still feel him with me every day, and hear what he would say to me about certain things. It’s great,’ she shared. 

‘I talk to him, I feel him. I hear his voice in my head. He gives me advice, and I am absolutely certain that he is there whenever I need him. And I still have pictures all around of Patrick.’ 

She went through hell as her husband valiantly fought – and then lost – his battle against pancreatic cancer. Nearly 17 years after Swayze’s death, Niemi has spoken out about the ‘instant nightmare’ hurled at them after the Dirty Dancing star’s diagnosis with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in January 2008.

‘Nothing prepares you,’ Niemi said in an emotional interview. ‘Actually, when Patrick first found out, when the doctor left the room, he turned to me and said, “I’m a dead man.”‘

‘Because he knew something about pancreatic cancer from some of his buddies. I didn’t know as much as he did, but he knew that it was almost a death sentence.’

While they pledged to ‘fight this with everything we have,’ she knew the odds were against them.

‘It was being thrown into an instant nightmare. We all knew how this would, in all likelihood, end, but we held out hope that he would be the one that would make it through,’ recalled Niemi, who found love again and married jeweler Albert DePrisco in 2014.

Patrick Swayze’s widow Lisa Niemi has spoken out about the ‘instant nightmare’ hurled at them after the Dirty Dancing star’s diagnosis with Stage IV pancreatic cancer (pictured in April 2025)

Niemi was plunged into grief and loneliness following Swayze’s death in September 2009 (the couple were pictured in 2007)

After Swayze’s death in September 2009, Niemi was plunged into grief and loneliness.

‘Patrick and I were married for 34 years and I pretty much spent my entire adult life with him,’ she explained. ‘To be without that meaningful relationship was very hard and extremely lonely. I was much lonelier than I would have admitted at that time.’

Niemi continues to maintain a close connection to her late husband, and she keeps his memory alive through her advocacy work with organizations such Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, which is holding its annual Purple Stride event on May 25.

‘Oh, yeah, I do. Because he knows I still care, and how much I care,’ she said.

Niemi has come to realize how she much neglected her own self-care while caring for Swayze, and she’s strived to help others avoid that pitfall.

‘I used to go to TJ Maxx if I was able to take a break,’ she told the outlet. ‘I’d go two hours searching for the perfect T-shirt. I pay my 12 bucks, and I’m out of there. That was my break, and it worked, but I didn’t do enough of it, and I should have done a lot more and gotten a lot more support.

‘I kept everything down outside of me because I was being strong for him. It was the biggest battle of my life,’ she added.

Niemi currently lives on a horse ranch in Florida with her second husband, but Swayze is still a constant presence and she surrounds herself with pictures of him.

The couple – seen in July 2005 – were married 34 years and Niemi said, ‘To be without that meaningful relationship was very hard’

Niemi said she still ‘talks’ to her late husband and keeps pictures of him ‘all around’ while keeping his memory alive through her advocacy work with organizations such Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (pictured in 1990)

Niemi found love again and married jeweler Albert DePrisco in 2014 (pictured in November 2013)

All the time she admittedly says to herself, ‘If only he were here. I could share this with him.’

Niemi also spoke about finding love again, and the difficult conversation she had with DePrisco about Swayze.

‘I asked Albert, “Does it bother you that I still love Patrick?” And he said, “I know you do. But I’m here to love you now.” And he knows that I can love Patrick, and I can love him,’ she shared.

‘I get the sense that Patrick would have wanted me to be happy and not be alone. I think he would have approved of Albert. Albert’s a good man.’