Kenny Rogers’ Widow Reveals She’s Found Love Again — With Her Late Husband’s Approval

Three years after Kenny Rogers‘ death, Wanda Rogers has found love again. In March 2020, the 81-year-old country superstar passed away after suffering from a lengthy illness, prompting him to have a meaningful conversation one day with his wife Wanda, 56, before his death about her moving on romantically some day. “He said, ‘I’m not going to be here forever. I want you to be happy,’” she told PEOPLE. “‘You’re young. I want you to have a full life past me.’ And, of course, I was like, ‘What? I don’t want to talk about that. Turn the TV back on.’”

Wanda said the two wanted to show their twin sons, Justin and Jordan, 19, that moving on is OK, something she says was instrumental to Rogers’ wish. “One of the big things is to show the boys that life goes on. And it does — I’m dating someone very special,” she said. “Kenny gave me his very best, and he wanted me to move on and be happy. That’s a really big man to be able to say those words and mean it. I think it just shows the kind of guy he was.”

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Rogers and Wanda met for the first time in 1993, when Rogers, on a blind date with another woman, also happened to stop by Wanda’s Atlanta restaurant where she was working as a hostess. They were married in 1997 and welcomed their sons seven years later. Wanda says it took her a while to move on after losing Rogers, but friends helped ease the transition. A friend of Rogers’ who dated Wanda’s sister years ago introduced her to her current partner, which made the difficult process easier. “He introduced me to a friend of his, and he said, ‘Look, if you don’t date each other, you’ll be friends forever. He is going to be in your friend arsenal forever,’” she recalled. “And we became friends at first.” 

The friendship soon blossomed, especially after Wanda noticed all of the attributes he shared with her late husband, such as his “leadership and positive energy.” “It’s funny because a few of my friends said, ‘I just really feel like Kenny’s a part of this somehow.’ And I know that sounds weird,” she told the outlet. “[But] he tells our kids, ‘I’m not your dad. No one will ever take the place of your dad, but I’m here as your friend forever.’” She added, “It’s been big shoes to step into after I was with this icon for all these years in a very special relationship. But it’s really been an easy relationship.” 

Even as Wanda pursues her new relationship, she has kept Rogers’ legacy alive by honoring and preserving his memory. In June, she curated an album compiled from his archives called Life Is Like a Song, featuring tracks he recorded between 2008 and 2011. “I want to make sure his legacy grows and stays alive,” she said. “I think Kenny would be beyond happy and proud of the album. Kenny’s whole thing was he always wanted to say in a song what every man wanted to say, and every woman wanted to hear. I think this would fall right into that category.”