Gone but not forgotten. Ray Liotta’s fiancée Jacy Nittolo took to Instagram on the first anniversary of his death with another heartbreaking tribute to the iconic Field of Dreams actor, including six loving photos in a carousel. “A year ago today I was on a flight home from the Dominican Republic by myself in shock,” she captioned the pics with a lengthy tribute. “My entire world unexpectedly turned upside down. I’ll never forget the beautiful woman, a complete stranger, who sat next to me and didn’t say a word. She gently grabbed and held my hand the entire flight as I cried and looked out the window. When we landed she looked at me and said everything is going to be ok. Your [sic] going to be ok.”
Ray died on May 26, 2022, at the age of 67. At the time, he was on location in the Dominican Republic filming Dangerous Waters. “I walked off the plane and met Ray’s sister for a connecting flight to LA and I don’t know what I would have done without Linda that night,” Jacy continued, noting that it’s “been a heavy year of pain, heartache, healing, growing and accepting what is,” she explained.
“Learning to smile at what was. It supposedly gets easier with time. No time will change a loss so great. You just learn to live with it and keep going, trusting that all will be ok.” Jacy continued, acknowledging her own four children from a previous relationship and Ray’s 24-year-old daughter Karsen for keeping her “going every single day.” Jacy also noted that her grandmother died on the same day, 5/26, 20 years ago.
Per Us Weekly, Ray and Jacy became engaged in December of 2020, with the actor taking to social media to proclaim, “Christmas wishes do come true. I asked the love of my life to marry me, and thank God she said yes!!!”
Just weeks ago, on May 8th, the Goodfellas actor’s cause of death was finally revealed. According to TMZ, respiratory insufficiency, pulmonary edema, and acute heart failure combined to result in Ray’s untimely passing. Jennifer Allen, his publicist, told HollywoodLife at the time that he “passed away in his sleep.”