JOEY FEEK’S HUSBAND RORY CRIES DISCUSSING THEIR FINAL CONVERSATIONS BEFORE HER DEATH
The story of Joey Feek and her husband Rory Feek is one that has touched the hearts of many around the world. Known for their music as the country duo Joey + Rory, the couple shared not only a professional partnership but a deeply personal, faithful, and enduring love. Their life together, and especially Joey’s final months battling cervical cancer, became a powerful testament to resilience, hope, and devotion.
In recent years, Rory Feek has spoken openly and emotionally about the moments leading up to Joey’s death in March 2016 at the age of 40. During interviews and conversations with media outlets, including People, Rory has described how profoundly moving their final conversations were — and how discussing them still brings him to tears.
Rory has recounted that in Joey’s last days, their communications were filled with honesty, comfort, and deep emotional connection. Despite the seriousness of her illness, the couple found ways to express their enduring love, their shared faith, and their hopes for their family’s future. These conversations were not about fear or resignation alone, but about gratitude, meaning, and peace.
One of the moments Rory has spoken about with notable emotion involved their last exchange of “I love you.” According to his recollection, they intentionally shared those words with one another three times, a gesture that had personal significance tied to a song Rory had written years earlier. This ritual became something sacred to them — a way of affirming love in a moment when words carried extraordinary weight.
In interviews, Rory has said that even though recalling these conversations can be overwhelming, he believes it is important to share them. He has explained that Joey, before her passing, expressed a desire for him to continue telling their story — not only through music, but through the honest reflection of life’s beauty and its inevitable pain. For Rory, sharing these memories honors her wishes and keeps her spirit present in the lives of others.
Rory has also spoken about how these final conversations were rooted in faith. Both he and Joey leaned heavily on their spiritual beliefs throughout her illness, and their discussions in her final days often included prayer, reflection on their journey together, and reassurance about what comes next. Even as grief remains, Rory has described a sense of peace that came from knowing Joey’s heart was steady and her fear was eased.
The emotional weight of these memories is clear whenever Rory recounts them — his voice sometimes breaking, his eyes welling with tears. But alongside the tears is gratitude: gratitude for having had the time, the closeness, and the opportunity to articulate love when it mattered most. That duality — of deep sorrow and deep thankfulness — has defined much of Rory’s public reflections on his wife’s final chapter.
Fans of Joey + Rory have responded to Rory’s honesty with empathy and admiration. Many have said that hearing about these final conversations helps them process their own experiences with loss, reminding them that love does not disappear with death, but continues in memory, in family, and in the stories we tell.
Today, Rory continues to honor Joey’s legacy through his writing, his music, and the way he speaks about their life together. The emotional truth of their final conversations stands as one of the most poignant reminders of Joey’s life — and of the powerful bond they shared until the very end.