Chris Kyle's widow Taya explains heartbreaking reason she has not dated since his death
Navy SEAL Chris Kyle was shot dead in February 2013, and left behind a wife and two children, a boy and a girl.
Chris is best known for the 2014 Hollywood blockbuster, American Sniper, where Bradley Cooper plays 'the lethal sniper' in the film based off the US war-hero's 2012 New York Times bestselling autobiography.
He served the US military from 1999-2009, before retiring and working with other veterans to combat their PTSD until his death.
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One of the men he worked with was Eddie Ray Routh, who was experiencing PTSD, so Chris recommended that they visit a shooting range as a form of therapy, but Routh ended up shooting the sniper and his friend Chade Littlefield, dead.
Taya's interview comes days after their children, Colton, 19, and McKenna, 18, publicly spoke about their father for the first time, in an interview with People.
Colton attributed the fact that he had become a 'better man today' to the fact that he grew 'spiritually and emotionally' since he had lost his father.
He now runs his American Sniper brand, selling merchandise with the American Sniper logo on, with some of the proceeds also going to The Taya and Chris Kyle Foundation.
McKenna revealed that she is 'learning to see the good in the world again' as she was very attached to her father.
11 years on, Taya Kyle has revealed in an interview with People that she hasn't dated or re-married since - and why that is the case.
Taya, 49, quoted a line in the Ed Sheeran song 'Tenerife Sea', when speaking about her late husband, saying: "Should this be the last thing I see, I want you to know it’s enough for me."
“I think there was a big loyalty part of me that wanted to let him know that he was enough for me,” she said in the interview with People.
She still feels loyal to her husband, revealing how she felt after finding out about his death in 2013: “I was deep in grief. I wanted someone to hold me and tell me it would be okay. I wanted that for a while, the way anyone does when they are doing it alone, but no one was Chris and I wasn’t willing to let him go.”
Taya also said another reason for single status is that she prioritised her kids, saying: “I didn’t see how anyone could build a relationship with kids who needed me.
“I wasn’t willing to take time away from my kids for that,” she explained.
Shortly before her husband's death, Taya actually told him that if anything happened to her, she wanted him to find someone else to be with him and the kids, but 'he didn't say it back' as 'he was just absorbing' what she was saying.
She then continued to say: “I believe in heaven things change dramatically, and I actually believe I felt him more than a couple of times nudging me and saying, ‘I've got someone for you.’
“But I very stubbornly felt like, ‘No, you were enough.’”
The bestselling author is also very particular about who she lets into her life, saying that 'some people took advantage' of the fact that she was finding her way as a widow with two children, shortly after Chris' death.
She said that it would take 'courage' to 'trust someone so intimately', but highlighted: “I enjoy my life.”
The mother-of-two likes to discuss their Christian faith and play board games with her kids in her spare time, even as teenagers.
Taya then concluded by saying that she isn't closed off to the idea of finding love again, saying: “I believe that people who are courageous enough to love again don’t lose the love they had for their first spouse.
“My dad said that love is not a zero-sum game and that we always have more to give. Maybe God has that in store for me some day and I'll explore it.”
Joshua Nair