‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Star John Schneider Credits ‘Masked Singer’ For Holding Him Together After Wife’s Death
Last night on The Masked Singer (spoilers ahead!), Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider was unmasked as the Donut and became the runner-up this season. R&B singer NE-YO as the Cow was announced as the winner of this season. Schneider revealed that being on the show was a prescription for healing for him after losing his wife Alicia to breast cancer in February. He is having a hard time ahead of the first holiday season without her but says that being on the show helped hold him together.
Schneider revealed that Alicia was his reason for saying yes to the show in the first place. He explained, “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.”
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Schneider added that when the show said that they wanted him to be a Donut, he smiled for the first time in a while. He recalled that every Saturday he and Alicia would get donuts at their local store so he felt like Alicia was sending him a sign from above. He continued, “It was a great opportunity to be able to to entertain, yes, and to have fun, yes, but also to grieve and let people know that it’s okay. Grieving is something you’ve got to do. And I liked that the Donut grieving actually is helping people who are on the same road. It’s not a job I ever wanted. It’s nothing I ever really wanted to understand. But it is the hand that I’ve been dealt. And I’m doing to make the very best of it, in honor of my beautiful wife.”
Everett Collection
Most people know Schneider as Bo on the classic series Dukes of Hazzard but he also has a lot of singing experience. He recently released a new studio album in honor of his late wife called Were Still Us as well as a book he co-wrote with Alicia called “In the Driver’s Seat: Love, Loss & Living with No Regrets.” He joked about his albums, “Maybe my 26th album is going to be the album that makes people go, ‘Oh, yeah, John Schneider, the singer who was on Dukes of Hazzard,’ not the other way around. Actually, they’ll probably be like, ‘He’s a Donut,’ but I guess forever it’ll be Donut. Or maybe the Bonut, like Bo Duke, Bonut!”
Warner Bros. Television/Everett Collection
He concluded about the experience in which he got a lot of positive feedback from the judges and fans, “It really helped me get through the worst year of my life. So I’m delighted to have done it. I’m honored to have done it. I’m so impressed with the way they do this show. I’ve sung on stage a lot. I’ve done Broadway and concerts. I mean, for crying out loud, I’ve done it for 40 years but I’ve never, never experienced a group of people who do what they do with such excellence. From beginning to end, it was the greatest experience I’ve had doing music on television.”
Tell us, did you enjoy seeing Schneider on The Masked Singer?
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