Ex-‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Stars John Schneider and Catherine Bach Not Dating Despite Report

“I of course told her it was OK,” Schneider, who has a large mural of him and his late wife painted on the side of their home, told PEOPLE in the wake of Alicia’s passing. “‘If you’re tired, if you want to go see your grandma, you want to go see your grandpa, if you want to go, then it’s OK. You go.’ And that was all the truth.”

“But then I lied, because I said, ‘Don’t worry about me; I’ll be OK,'” he tearfully shared. “That was a lie I had to tell, but she knew it. OK is a long way away.”