Bob Saget's widow Kelly Rizzo says his sudden death changed how she loves new boyfriend
Kelly Rizzo isn't sweating the small stuff when it comes to love.
Nearly five years after the sudden death of her husband, Bob Saget, Rizzo is approaching relationships differently. The 47-year-old told Fox News Digital that she and her boyfriend, Breckin Meyer, have never had a fight in more than three years together — an outlook shaped by the sudden loss of her husband.
Rizzo hosts the podcast "Comfort Food with Kelly Rizzo," on which she sits down with celebrity guests and friends to discuss grief, coping and family.
"It's been over three years, and I don't want to jinx it, but we have never had a fight," Rizzo told Fox News Digital. "We've never been in a fight. And I think, at least from my end, it's because I don't ever want to have a day where we're fighting and, God forbid, something happens, or where we're fighting, and he feels upset or sad because I never want to hurt his feelings."
"I just don't do a lot of the things that maybe I would have done in the past or if I was a little bit more immature," she said. "That's really what this dating journey has taught me about myself."
Rizzo met Saget on social media in 2015, and they married three years later. On Jan. 9, 2022, the "Full House" star died at age 65 from accidental head trauma. Rizzo later found love again with Meyer, an actor. The couple made their public debut at Steven Tyler's annual Grammy Awards viewing party in February 2024, according to People magazine.
WATCH: KELLY RIZZO SHARES HOW BOB SAGET'S DEATH CHANGED HER DATING LIFE
"I've learned that it's so important to appreciate every single minute that you have with somebody because you don't know how much time you're going to get with them," Rizzo said. "You don't know how much time you're here on this Earth. So I'm so much better today at not sweating the small stuff."
"I don't pick little fights," she continued. "You know, let's test him to see how much he loves me. I just don't do any of that anymore. I think a level of maturity also comes with my age and just having been in relationships in the past. But because I lost Bob so suddenly and so quickly, I know what a gift every single day is."
Rizzo said she learned the importance of expressing love from Saget during their marriage.
"He always said, 'I love you. Tell everyone you love them,'" Rizzo said. "He was hugging people constantly. He was telling people ‘I love you.’ He never left a conversation without saying 'I love you' or leaving anything on the table. Everyone knew how he felt about them after every conversation or after every visit. And that was such a big lesson he taught people, even to this day. Even after almost five years."
Rizzo said opening her heart to someone new brought feelings of guilt, which she discussed on her podcast.
"I was always so concerned, like, 'If people know that I love Breckin now, are they going to think I love Bob less?'" she said. "What I've learned is that it's just absolutely not true. ... You can have 100% of love for the person you lost and still have 100% of your love for the person in your life now. And having the new person does not take away the love from the person before, from the person who passed away, because they can live together and coexist so beautifully and so simultaneously."
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"My love for Bob today, it's a little different than it was when he was here, but it's not any less," Rizzo said. "So, I think that's a big misconception. People are worried that if they move forward, it means that either they're going to somehow forget the person who passed away, or that people will think that they love the person less."
Rizzo previously said she sought the blessing of Saget's daughters, with whom she remains close. Saget had three daughters — Aubrey, 39, Lara, 37, and Jennifer, 33 — with his former wife, Sherri Kramer.
"It's truly the biggest gift I could ever have dreamed of, because they're such angels," she said of her relationship with her stepdaughters. "We've just still been a family. I talked to Aubrey today for an hour and every conversation ends with 'I love you.' I'm going to see her tomorrow with my new step-granddaughter. It's just the biggest gift. I can't imagine doing this without them. And I don't want to put words in their mouth, but they've said the same."
"It makes me appreciate it so much more, because I see there are so many families, especially stepfamilies, similar to mine," Rizzo said. "They do not have this beautiful of a situation after someone's passing. So we know every day how unbelievably blessed we are that we have this relationship."
While Rizzo is moving forward, her love for Saget remains constant. When asked about her favorite memory of him, she recalled their last Christmas together in her hometown of Chicago.
"I remember he got to spend time with my nieces, one who was just born two weeks before," Rizzo said. "I remember he took this photo with my niece, Alexandra, at the dinner table. The last text that Bob ever sent me right before he passed away ... we were saying our goodnights, but when I woke up in the morning, I had a text from him that was that picture of him hugging my niece on Christmas."
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"It was a little, I don't want to say odd, but a little different. It's not necessarily a text that I would've expected to get from him, this mushy picture. But I look at that as so significant because he and my niece had a special connection. And the fact that that was the last text he ever sent me was really special."
Rizzo said Meyer has also embraced Saget's memory, something she appreciates as their relationship continues.
"[I remember] my episode with Breckin, where Breckin is talking about how much he loved Bob and how much he respected him," she said. "I always joke that Breckin's the only person on Earth who Bob wouldn't be that mad about. He wouldn't love it, but he'd like him more than any other option."
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Looking ahead, Rizzo is determined to embrace the future while honoring Saget's memory.
"I'm so grateful that I got to share my life with Bob and [I'm just] so grateful that I got to be in his world, understand him and help him feel understood, really, almost for the first time in his life," she said. "[I just put] in my head from almost day one that I'm not going to let this break me. I'm going to be OK."