Will Friend died by lightning strike on July 3.
Bevin Prince's husband talked about the possibility of getting struck by lightning just moments before he died. In her first TV interview since husband Will Friend's July death by lightning strike, the 40-year-old One Tree Hill actress recalled the moments leading up to the fatal bolt.
"We look up and we can see the storm in the distance, but we've been there so many times and there was no urgency for anyone to get off the water at that time," she said on Good Morning America. "We were watching it, we were gauging it."
Prince and her family were boating near their North Carolina home ahead of the July 4th holiday, with the actress on one boat with her family and friends, and her husband on a different boat with his father-in-law.
"Right before it hit him, he lit a cigar and he looked at my father and he said, 'If we get struck by lightning, Mike, this is where I want to be,'" Prince said of her late husband. "And then it happened. It was instant."
People on nearby boats rushed to help Friend, but they were unable to save him.
"Luckily there were people on the boat next to us, a nurse, an ex-military," Prince said. "They moved him over to the police boat quickly and, from what I've heard, spent a lot of time and care trying to resuscitate him and it just [didn't work]. I believe it was really his time."
Prince, who first opened up about her husband's death on the 1 on 1 With Jon Evans podcast earlier this month, believes as much because of all of the "divinity" in Friend's death.
"He was 33 years old. It was July 3rd. I believe that the exact time that the lightning struck was 3:13 p.m.," Prince explained. "Knowing that all the resources were there to save him, I have to believe that something bigger beyond me was calling him."
Looking back on her time with Friend, whom she married in 2016, Prince said, "I'm just so proud. I'm so proud that I got to do life with him."
"He was one of the funniest people I've ever met in my entire life, by far," she said. "He lit up every single room he came into. You never forgot when you met Will Friend."
After his death, support poured in for Prince, which she's immensely grateful for.
"It's unfortunate, and fortunate, that in this situation it takes a tragedy to see how people rally and support and love you," she said. "I'm incredibly fortunate in this situation."
Now, as she begins this new chapter of her life, Prince is dedicated to continuing her cycling business, Recess by Bevin Prince, of which Friend was a champion.
"He believed in me and my message and what Recess really is, which is community, support, an ability to show up exactly as you are and breathe and move together," she said, before sharing her current outlook on life.
"There's really two options in this situation. You can choose to stay on this planet or you can choose to not, and the latter really isn't an option for me," she said. "Will lived such a life of purpose. I feel a responsibility to carry that on and to find my own way to continue to serve in his honor. That's what my life will be now."
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