Swayze Persuaded Wife Niemi to Direct the Beast Episode

02 April 2009

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Patrick Swayze's wife Lisa Niemi almost turned down the opportunity to step behind the camera and direct her husband in an episode of his TV show The Beast because she was so concerned about his ailing health.

Swayze is battling pancreatic cancer and Niemi has accompanied her husband to work on the set of the hit programme every day.

TV bosses soon approached her to take control of an episode for herselfbut Niemi was hesitant - until Swayze persuaded her to take up the offer.

And of course he's like, 'I can take care of myself'

She tells People magazine, "The directors would ask when I was doing anepisode, but I was very clear that I was there on-set for Patrick. And of course he's like, 'I can take care of myself'. So we took it from there".

And Niemi is full of admiration for her sick husband for pressing on with work in between tiring bouts of chemotherapy.

She adds, "He was fantastic. He had challenges because he was still doing chemo and it wasn't always easy, but he'd suit up and show up. He was always there. He treated me like he was honoured to show up on my set".

Niemi's episode of The Beast airs in the U.S. next week (09Apr09).