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Amanda Kloots on Resilience, Grief & Healing Through Fitness

September 23, 2025

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  • Amanda Kloots emphasizes that resilience, honed through her Broadway career and tested by profound loss, is cultivated by the necessity of moving forward, particularly for her son Elvis. 
  • Fitness has evolved for Amanda Kloots from a means of maintaining a specific physique for performance to a crucial mental health tool that helped her navigate grief and exert energy to escape negative thought patterns. 
  • Amanda Kloots's journey through loss has transformed her into a voice for other widows, advocating for a reframing of the term 'widow' from one of sadness to one of strength and forward momentum, exemplified by her concept of 'renovoir'. 

Segments

Early Career Evolution
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(00:01:30)
  • Key Takeaway: Amanda Kloots’s career evolution is driven by necessity and a need for self-care, adapting to life changes like divorce by starting her fitness business.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots attributes her continuous career evolution to a fundamental need to adapt and take care of herself. Her divorce at 32, which left her single in New York City, prompted her to switch things up and start her fitness business to manage her finances.
Fitness as Mental Health
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(00:03:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Fitness became a vital mental health tool for Amanda Kloots during her divorce, transforming her emotional state from sadness to joy through movement and exertion.
  • Summary: Initially viewing fitness as a means to maintain a certain size for her Broadway career, Amanda Kloots discovered its power as a mental health tool during her divorce. Crying while walking to teach fitness classes, she found that three hours of teaching left her smiling, happy, and full of joy due to the physical exertion and focus shift.
Navigating Past Relationships
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(00:04:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Amanda Kloots reflects on her first marriage, acknowledging that her decision to end it was influenced by her ex-husband’s infidelity and his personal struggles.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots initiated the breakup of her first marriage, which was mutual by the end, after discovering her husband’s infidelity early on. She now understands that his actions stemmed from his own internal struggles and low self-esteem, rather than being a reflection of her worth.
Launching Wellness Brand Proper
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(00:06:38)
  • Key Takeaway: Launching Proper, Amanda Kloots’s wellness brand, has been a fun yet significant learning experience, building on her previous product development.
  • Summary: The launch of Proper, Amanda Kloots’s new supplement and wellness brand, has been an enjoyable and educational process. This venture marks her fourth product creation, following her signature jump rope and other items.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
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(00:09:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Starting a business requires immense personal drive, but seeking help from trusted friends and acknowledging that not everyone will support your vision is crucial for success.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots advises aspiring entrepreneurs that while the pressure is on them to care for their business more than anyone else, they should not be afraid to ask for help. She highlights that true friends will want to support them, and she herself has relied on friends for financial assistance to launch her ventures.
Resilience Through Loss
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(00:12:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Resilience, for Amanda Kloots, was first learned through the demanding environment of Broadway and later reinforced by the loss of her husband, Nick Cordero, with her son Elvis serving as a constant motivator to move forward.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots identifies her 16 years on Broadway as the initial training ground for resilience, where she learned to persist despite constant rejection. The profound loss of her husband, Nick Cordero, further solidified this trait, with her son Elvis providing the daily impetus to continue living and moving forward.
Coping with Grief and Loss
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(00:15:12)
  • Key Takeaway: In darker moments, Amanda Kloots discovered her own strength and capacity to handle immense challenges, finding purpose and thriving through faith and by channeling her energy into entrepreneurial pursuits.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots’s experience with loss revealed an inner strength she hadn’t fully recognized, enabling her to navigate trauma by placing it in a higher power. This faith, combined with her entrepreneurial drive, has allowed her to thrive rather than succumb to bitterness.
Widowhood and New Relationships
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(00:16:44)
  • Key Takeaway: The deep love Amanda Kloots had for her late husband can be intimidating to new partners, requiring them to be self-secure and understanding of the unique dynamic.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots acknowledges that the intensity of her love for her late husband can present a challenge for new romantic interests. She notes that potential partners must possess significant self-security and a deep understanding of the complexities involved in dating someone who has experienced such profound loss.
Supporting Other Widows
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(00:19:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Amanda Kloots actively supports other young widows, finding connection and purpose in helping them navigate their grief and reframe their identity beyond the label of ‘widow’.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots finds immense value in connecting with and supporting other widows, recognizing the shared challenges they face. She actively works to rebrand the term ‘widow,’ which she feels is associated with sadness and loneliness, towards a more empowering concept like ‘renovoir,’ signifying forward momentum.
Keeping Nick’s Spirit Alive
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(00:23:25)
  • Key Takeaway: Amanda Kloots actively keeps her late husband Nick Cordero’s spirit alive for their son Elvis by sharing his music, stories, and his recorded one-man show.
  • Summary: To ensure her son Elvis remembers his father, Amanda Kloots regularly talks about Nick Cordero and plays his music. They also listen to his recorded one-man show, which chronicles his life story, allowing Elvis to connect with his father’s legacy.
Parenting Connection
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(00:24:43)
  • Key Takeaway: Building a strong, joyful bond with children involves being present, making eye contact, and meeting their needs with a servant’s heart, which fosters a sense of importance.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots emphasizes the importance of connecting with children by getting down to their level, maintaining eye contact, and putting away distractions like phones. This approach ensures children feel valued and important, leading to a stronger parent-child relationship.
Daily Positive Thoughts
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(00:25:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Amanda Kloots shares daily positive thoughts on Instagram to intentionally turn negative moments into positive ones, receiving appreciative feedback from her followers.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots began posting ‘AK positive thought of the day’ on Instagram to counteract negativity and foster positivity. This practice has garnered significant positive feedback, with many followers expressing how much they needed these daily messages.
Future Creative Projects
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(00:27:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Amanda Kloots is focused on developing her own creative projects, including movies and scripts, and is working on writing another book with her sister.
  • Summary: Looking ahead, Amanda Kloots aims to bring her own creative visions to life, focusing on producing and acting in movies and scripts. She is also collaborating with her sister, who resides in Paris, on writing a new book.
Experience on The Talk
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(00:28:30)
  • Key Takeaway: Her five seasons on ‘The Talk’ provided Amanda Kloots with a stable and supportive environment as a new mother and a newcomer to Los Angeles, allowing her to balance work and family.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots found her role on ‘The Talk’ to be a ‘godsend,’ especially as a new mother and someone new to Los Angeles. The show’s filming location and her son’s preschool created a manageable ’triangle of safety,’ enabling her to balance her career and family life.
Proper Supplement Usage
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(00:31:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Proper supplements are designed for flexible, non-guilt-inducing use, allowing individuals to tailor their intake to their daily needs and preferences.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots emphasizes that Proper supplements are not meant to create guilt or require strict daily regimens. Users can incorporate them as needed, whether for daily greens, immune support before travel, or other specific wellness goals, making them a ’non-guilty pleasure'.
Proper Product Flavors
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(00:32:03)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘Daily Boost’ greens powder from Proper has a refreshing bright green apple flavor, while the ‘Calm and Anxiety’ blend offers a lavender lemonade taste.
  • Summary: Amanda Kloots highlights the delicious taste of Proper’s ‘Daily Boost’ greens, describing it as a bright green apple flavor that is refreshing, especially after a workout. She also mentions the ‘Calm and Anxiety’ blend, which features a lavender lemonade flavor.