John Schneider Was Ready to Give Up 'Everything' Before Meeting New Girlfriend 1 Year After Wife Alicia's Death

John Schneider is in a new relationship one year after the death of his wife Alicia Allain

During an appearance on Grace Begins, The Podcast on May 29, the Dukes of Hazzard star told hosts Cathy Cardenas and Catherine Sutherland that he had found new love after losing his late wife to cancer.

In reflecting on the "really rough year" that "about got me off of everything," Schneider, 64, shared how his faith had helped him through the dark period of his life.

"God sent a widower to a widow and a widow to a widower who [gets] it, who understands. Because I tell you what, I was ready to give it up, all of it — everything," he explained, before gesturing to his new partner off camera. "Then just when I thought the very notion of dating or holding another hand was repulsive, I met this one, that crazy Dame over there."

Schneider called his new relationship "a miracle" and noted that he "can honestly say I didn't want it" before she entered his life.

"I was done," he continued with emotion welling up in his voice. "And if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have been here, there's not a chance in the world."

After Allain was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2019, she and Schneider decided to tie the knot "in the eyes of God" in July, since Schneider's divorce with his ex-wife Elvira "Elly" Castle was not yet finalized. (The pair were legally wed several months later on Sept. 27, 2019.)

Though her cancer had gone into remission by 2020, Allain broke her back in a race-car crash in December 2021 and further scans showed her cancer had returned and metastasized to the bone. Two years later in February 2023, Allain succumbed to her illness and died in their shared home.

In a conversation with PEOPLE in August 2023, Schneider said that he missed "every damn thing" about Alicia "every day."

"I have to get to the point where I look around and see where she is, not where she's not," he said. "And I'm trying to do that, but that's hard. Somehow I love her more every minute, but with that, somehow I miss her more every minute."

He continued, "And that's the personality of grief, is living like this, being pulled in two completely opposite directions at the same time ... you want something with all your heart and soul, and you don't want it with all your heart and soul, at the same time. I want this pain to go away, but I don't want it diminish her in any way. I want to laugh, and when I do, I feel bad. I want to smile and mean it, but I don't."

The news of Schneider's relationship comes about five months after he came under fire for his controversial statements about President Joe Biden in December 2023. In a since-deleted reply posted to X, the actor claimed that the president should be "publicly hung," per Deadline, which prompted the Secret Service to open a probe into his statements.

The statement was written in response to a tweet in which Biden, 81, expressed that former President Donald Trump "poses many threats to our country."

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In a screenshot taken of his deleted response, Schneider wrote, "Mr. President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung. Your son, too. Your response is..? Sincerely, John Schneider."

The actor later denied that he had threatened the president in a statement shared with PEOPLE.