Jacy Nittolo is remembering the one-year anniversary of her late fiancé Ray Liotta’s death. Nittolo paid tribute to the two on Friday with a thoughtful Instagram post that included six photos of their time together — and a sad caption that ended with a celebratory acceptance.
“One year ago today I was shocked and alone on the flight back from the Dominican Republic.” she wrote on Friday. “My whole world turned upside down unexpectedly. I will never forget the beautiful woman, a total stranger, who sat next to me and didn’t say a word.”
“She gently grabbed and held my hand throughout the flight while I cried and looked out the window,” she continued. “When we landed she looked at me and said everything was going to be fine. You will be fine. I got off the plane and met Ray’s sister for a connecting flight to LA.”
“I don’t know what I would have done that night without Linda,” Nittolo added.
Liotta died in his sleep at the age of 67 while filming Dangerous Waters in the Dominican Republic. A few weeks ago, heart failure and respiratory diseases became known as the cause of death.
The past year has been emotionally turbulent for Nittolo.
“It’s been a tough year filled with pain, heartbreak, healing, growth and acceptance of what is,” she wrote on Friday. “Learning to smile at what was. It is said to get easier with time. No time will change such a great loss. You just learn to live with it and move on, trusting that everything will be fine.”
Nittolo, who previously said she and Liotta are “inseparable,” also reflected on a previous defeat.
“Karsen, Dax, Chazz, Jade and Joey… You keep me going everyday,” she wrote. “My grandmother passed away 20 years ago today. She helped me raise myself. She was the other love of my life and one of my all time favorites. Both on 05/26.”
Liotta received a standing ovation at the Golden Globes in January, led by his “Black Bird” co-star Paul Walter Hauser, and was honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February.
The “Goodfellas” actor is also survived by his daughter Karsen. An actress herself, she called her late father “one of a kind” during the Walk of Fame ceremony – saying, “Everyone deserves a ray in their life.”