Alexia Echevarria has shared how the happiest day of her life "turned out to be the saddest" as her mother died from COVID-19 on the same day the "Real Housewives of Miami" star had planned to get married.
Echevarria, 54, wrote on Instagram that she found out her mother Nancy had died Wednesday morning as Echevarria had been getting ready to marry fiancé Todd Nepola.
"Early this morning I lost my mom to the horrible and deadly COVID-19," she wrote. "The last couple of days have been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I was on the road to marry the man of my dreams when I had to stop everything as my mother became ill. What was supposed to be the happiest day of my life today has turned out to be the saddest."
Echevarria shared a series of photos of her mother over the years and paid tribute to her life.
"My mom, Nancy, was a woman of strength and beauty," she wrote. "Over the years I watched how she lived her life, HER WAY. My best friend, my psychiatrist but above all, she was my mother. My mother was the kind of woman that was respected, admired, inspirational and so ahead of her times. She was a trailblazer in so many aspects of life."
"To say I will miss you does no justice for what I feel, no amount of tears can express the pain I feel in losing you but then again thank you for the honor of sharing a lifetime with me," she continued. "Rest In Peace Mami. I know you’re in a better place dancing and drinking champagne. Please watch over us, as I need all the help from up above. I now have another angel. Until we meet again."
Echevarria starred on "The Real Housewives of Miami" during its three-year run before Bravo ceased production in 2013.
She shared on Instagram in 2019 that she had gotten engaged to Nepola and then told Bravo's "The Daily Dish" last year that they had postponed their wedding until this year due to the pandemic.
This is Echevarria's third marriage, as she has two stepsons with her late husband Herman Echevarria, who died in 2016, and shares two sons with her first husband, Pedro Rosello.
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