Jill Zarin is looking forward with hope six months after her husband, Bobby Zarin, died of cancer.
“Life moves on and I want to be happy again,” the Real Housewives of New York star, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly at her 6th Annual Luxury Luncheon at the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, New York, on Saturday, July 28. “[Bobby would] want me to be happy.”
Jill also opened up about feeling her late husband’s presence after his passing. “When I hear a song or I’ll get a sign, I believe in all that. I’m very spiritual,” she told Us. “Even, like, the rain … It rained last night for hours, pouring, and look at this! This is the best weather you could have … So I think Bobby has control over the light.”
The Bravo personality knows that the businessman is “always proud” of her, even though his family chose not to come to Saturday’s event.
“His daughter [Jennifer Zarin] said that she felt uncomfortable coming to the Hamptons so soon … I understand that I have to respect it,” she explained. “I talk to [his family still], absolutely. You know, not as often, obviously, as if Bobby [were] here. But I’m trying to live up to what he asked me to do and to keep a good relationship and I am.”
Us confirmed earlier this month that the Secrets of a Jewish Mother author has found happiness again with new beau Gary Brody. “Gary very much respects the grieving process I am going through and has been an incredible friend to talk to,” she told Us on July 9. “He only wants the best for me and my daughter [Ally Shapiro].”
An insider told Us on July 7 that Brody, 52, “is not [Jill’s] boyfriend” but that “the situation is evolving as the pair “have been casually hanging out for a few months.”
With reporting by Marc Lupo
