Former “Dukes of Hazzard” star, John Schneider, announced through social media that his wife, Alicia Ann Allain Schneider, 53, has passed away. “My beautiful Smile is pain free, living in her new body alongside Jesus,” Schneider said on Instagram, with a picture of his wife. “Smile” is the nickname he used for his wife. The 62-year-old asked for privacy and reminded his fans to “hug those you love tight and let them know how you feel.” On Facebook, he expressed his grief more deeply, writing, “This is a time of unimaginable sorrow for me. Grief is much too small a word. I’ve heard [it] said that ‘with great love comes great sorrow.’ I had no idea what that meant until now.” The actor described himself as “broken” but thanked God for the blessing of his wife. “I’ll never be the same and I know that, somehow, we are still and will always be the ‘Team to Beat,’” he wrote.

Although an official cause of death has not been released, Alicia was diagnosed with stage IV Her2 negative breast cancer in 2019. “She was three years into a five-year shelf life,” John told Fox & Friends when speaking about the diagnosis. Alicia’s obituary references Revelation 21:3-4, with verse 4 concluding, “[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” She worked as a filmmaker and producer starting in the 90s, working on several films with her husband before the two turned to music, producing over 100 songs together. Her obituary states that, “Alicia was a force that inspired others, she was kind and generous to all she met. She always put herself last. She was very protective of her parents. She was mama bear that protected all her cubs. She was a fighter until the end. Alicia will be missed mighty.”

John had been married twice previously, his first marriage being to former Miss America Tawny Elaine Godin from 1983 to 1986 and then to Elly Castle from 1993 to 2019. John became a born again Christian after his first marriage to Tawny when he spent some time living with music legend and Christian, Johnny Cash. In an interview with “Today’s Christian,” Schneider said he had thought his life was too broken to allow him to be a Christian. “I couldn’t relate to [Christians] because nothing about their lives seemed real to me. My life was messy and imperfect, so I couldn’t see where I would fit in,” he said. Cash’s own testimony changed that for him. “It was the first time that I saw that you could say ‘Jesus is Lord’ and still be a man. Once I realized I was part of this bigger plan, I didn’t want to be a follower but a leader for the cause.” John and his second wife announced their divorce due to “irreconcilable differences” in 2014. John met Alicia after announcing his divorce when she called him up to discuss reentering indie filmmaking and they had dinner together. The two began dating in 2015 and were married in 2019 after his divorce with Elly Castle was finalized. Apart from her husband, Alicia is survived by her parents, her daughter Jessica, stepdaughter Karis, and a granddaughter.