Bevin Prince is reflecting on the tragic loss of her late husband William Friend.
The One Tree Hill actress shared insight into the day William died in 2022 at the age of 33 after being fatally struck by lightning during a boating excursion.
"He was standing in the water, looked at my father, handed him a cigar, and he lit it, he looked at my dad and he said, 'Well, Mike, if we get struck by lightning out here this is where I want to be,'" Bevin recalled on the Jan. 28 episode of the Missionary podcast, "and seconds later he was struck."
"We were very fortunate that anything that could've been done was done," she continued. "There was also a boat nearby where there was ex-military, a nurse and they ran over to help him, and a police boat happened to be passing right at that time so they were able to remove him quickly."
Despite the immediate assistance, Bevin explained that her husband "had instantly passed from the lightning strike."
The fitness instructor went on to discuss her grief after losing her husband so unexpectedly.
"I think when you lose a partner at any age, what really you start to grieve are multiple things," Bevin—who wed William in 2016—shared. "It's the loss of a loved one and, at the same time, it's the loss of a future you started to plan."
As she explained, "Every goal and dream I made for myself was wrapped around our love, then all of that gets pulled away and your identity is stripped."
In the years since William's passing, Bevin learned that accepting the unimaginable loss has been a critical aspect of her grieving process and ability to move forward in her life.
"The acceptance of the reality is going to allow you to move with grief," she explained, "and not have it stifle you."
And, through therapy and other forms of support, the actress has been able to experience moments of happiness that she previously wasn't sure were possibly anymore.
"I couldn't have imagined the days of joy that I have," Bevin said with a smile. "Even now, I couldn't have imagined those were possible. I can tell you with absolute certainty if you just show up and just continue to show up at some point...and talk. I was right into therapy...I had a lot of resources available to me and I held onto them for dear life."
The Recess by Bevin Prince founder had previously opened up about William's death in the months after losing him, pointing out the signs of "divinity" around his passing that helped her come to terms with the loss.
"He was 33 years old. It was July 3 and I believe the exact time that the lightning struck was 3:13 p.m.," Bevin shared on Good Morning America in 2022. "So knowing that all the resources were there to potentially save him, I have to believe that something bigger beyond me was calling him."