Jonnie Irwin told his wife he was "so happy" he met her in his final moments.
Jonnie Irwin has a sweet final message for his wife
The late 'A Place In The Sun' presenter - who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020 - died in February aged 50, and his widow Jessica Holme has tearfully recalled the last conversation they shared before he passed away.
She told Hello! magazine: "He told me, 'I'm so happy I met you,' and that he knew the boys would have the most joy and fun a person could bring.
"We had so much fun, Jonnie and me, we were never boring, we weren't best friends, we were lovers; there was passion."
The couple found love back in 2015 after meeting through some mutual friends, and went onto have Rex, four, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac together.
In Irwin's last few days, Jessica cared for her husband at home, while she was also supported by nurses.
She described his death as "cruel by how quick it was", as he had returned home from hospital and spent days in bed before dying.
She said: "It was cruel by how quick it was. He came out of hospital the previous Friday and we lost him a week later.
"He didn't leave his bad the entire time, so we weren't able to get out in the fresh air and process things."
Jess kept telling herself "this can't be it", as they had "always" been told there would be a "neurological decline" before he died.
She added: "Two weeks before, he'd been playfully giving me grief for something, so I was stillm trying to get him to make plans and telling him off when I felt he was being negative.
"Now I wonder, did he know? That's what makes me really, really, really sad, when I think what must have been going through his mind."