Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau remember their late husbands, Johnny and Matthew, in GMA interview
It's been nearly a year since hockey players Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were killed while biking near their South Jersey home. Their widows spoke to "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.
Wednesday would have been Johnny Gaudreau’s 32nd birthday.
“My daughter [Noa] is catching on. She’s 2, and she asks for him a lot,” Meredith Gaudreau said during an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America. “She says Daddy’s in heaven, and I’m starting to explain to her what heaven is really, because she wants to go to heaven, and she says, ‘I want him to come back,’ or, ‘Let’s call him.’
“She knows his birthday is coming up — I catch her singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.”
Almost a year has passed since Johnny Gaudreau, a seven-time NHL All-Star, and his brother, Matthew, were killed by an alleged drunk driver while on a bike ride after their sister’s wedding rehearsal dinner in Salem County. Their widows, Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau, spoke to ABC’s Will Reeve on Wednesday and publicly launched the John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation.
“Half of me, the best part of me, died that day, too,” Meredith said through tears. “So I’m just trying to be double now for my kids, even though I’m half of who I was.”
Meredith and Johnny met in Avalon at the Jersey Shore in summer 2018. The two started dating shortly after and got engaged on Aug. 29, 2020. Exactly four years from that date, Johnny was killed.
“It’s just unfair that John’s not here,” said Meredith, who at the time of his death was pregnant with their now 4-month-old son, Carter.
“He’s the happiest 4-month-old I’ve ever seen,” she said. “He just doesn’t stop smiling, and I think it’s really special because [Johnny’s] shining through in Carter. I just can’t imagine how happy John would be if he was here.”
» READ MORE: Nearly a year after the Gaudreau brothers’ deaths, their sister made sure Johnny and Matt were at her wedding
Matthew Gaudreau met his wife, Madeline, while in high school. The two were married in 2021. At the time of the brothers’ deaths, Madeline was pregnant with the couple’s son, Tripp Matthew Gaudreau.
“Tripp’s now hitting milestones, so, like, that’s heartbreaking, because Matt was super excited to be a dad,” Madeline said before revealing that she suffered a miscarriage before Tripp was conceived.
“For a long time — Matt has wanted kids since I think he graduated college. And I was like, ‘Matt, we’re too young.’ And a lot of people don’t know, but in January, we got pregnant, and had a miscarriage in February. So then I got pregnant again in March with Tripp, but I never thanked him for making me a mom.”
Just months after the deaths of their husbands, Meredith and Madeline came together to create the John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation, which aims to support causes that “align with the values and passions that they championed during their lives,” including youth hockey.
“It was never lost on John and Matty about how expensive it is to maintain hockey as a hobby. You have to start so young,” Meredith said.
» READ MORE: Jane Gaudreau needed a project after the loss of her two sons. She found one in the Gaudreau Family 5K.
In addition to helping youth hockey initiatives, the foundation’s mission includes “supporting hockey families that have faced tragedy and helping other families that have been affected by drunk driving, like ours,” according to the statement on the website.
One of the ways the foundation plans to raise money is through a recently released merchandise line, which is available for purchase on its website (johnandmatty.org).