Annette Funicello, who died today at 70, had not been the bubbly, energetic entertainer that fans remembered her as for quite some time.
In October, Funicello's husband, Glen Holt, allowed Canada's CTV W5 News into their home to shed light on the toll that multiple sclerosis had taken on his wife after nearly 25 years. She had stopped being able to walk eight years beforehand and hadn't been able to speak for nearly three years.
"I'm sorry that she's this way," said Holt, 81. "I would love to have her back dancing and singing and doing everything she always loved to do. But she can't do it."
Holt, a former horse breeder, was Funicello's second husband. They tied the knot in 1986—and he told CTV W5, "I don't regret it by one iota."
"When we got married we promised we would take care of each other, come hell or high water," he said. "And when she was diagnosed and started all this stuff about MS, I told her, 'Well, I'll take care of you, honey, and I'll do everything I can do.'"
"I just tell her, 'Hey, you're my baby,'" Holt added. "A big, nice look at me with those big, brown, bright eyes is telling me 'thank you,' you know."