John Schneider recently opened up in an interview with People about his time on “The Masked Singer” and how it helped him through a tough year after losing his wife Alicia in February. Schneider, who finished in second place as ‘Donut’ behind R&B singer Ne-Yo. His appearance on the show helped him through a difficult time in his life after losing his wife Alicia to breast cancer in February. “What an amazing opportunity to be able to honor Alicia, to be able to honor people who are grieving, maybe educate people who are grieving a little bit, in front of millions of people,” he told People. “I’m a pretty strong guy but I’m also a very emotional guy. Being out there on that stage dressed like a donut, singing some of the greatest songs ever written and having people respond to the songs and the performance with no notion that it was me, really, really helped John Schneider.” He added, “It really helped me get through the worst year of my life. So I’m delighted to have done it.”

Schneider opened up about his choice to participate in the show, saying it was something his late wife always wanted him to do. “It was one of the shows that Alicia really wanted me to do. She would always say, ‘You’ve got to do The Masked Singer.’ I fully expected one day for Alicia to be there to help…so when that opportunity came, I just had to kind of look toward heaven and kind of laugh because, of course, she still runs things but further away. And then, when they said, ‘We’d kind of like you to be a Donut.'” When it was suggested that he be disguised as a donut on the show, Schneider knew that his wife would be smiling down at him. “Every Saturday, Alicia would go down to our local donut store, get me a bag of apple fritters. And I would eat one, only one, but donuts had been part of my life. For a long time, they were part of Alicia’s and I’s marriage and relationship. So again, they said, ‘Donut,’ and I just had to look up at the sky and go, ‘Well, of course. This is you. It’s got to be you.'” The actor credited a higher power for the signs that  he saw, calling them ‘God nods.’ “So it made me smile. It made me smile at a time when I hadn’t smiled in a while. These were great signs, they were “God nods” we call them, that this was indeed the right thing to do. So I was excited about it from the very beginning. I loved every minute of it.”