Emily Cave Boit defends her grief over late husband Colby Cave: 'One of the most inappropriate comments I have ever received'
The 31-year-old remarried after the sudden death of former NHL player Colby Cave in 2020.
Emily Cave Boit’s grief isn’t up for debate. The author, who recently remarried following the death of her first husband, former NHL player Colby Cave, took to social media to set the record straight about the complexities of widowhood and the strength of her relationship with her husband, Colin Boit.
On Monday, the Barrie, Ont.-born writer and host of the “You Are More with Emily Cave Boit” podcast, took to Instagram to address a comment from a follower who asked if she wanted to divorce her husband, Colin, because she’s still in love with her late husband, Colby.
“This may be one of the most inappropriate comments I have ever received,” Cave Boit replied. She went on to explain that her day had been particularly difficult and made her think of Colby’s death and how traumatizing it was. “Oh and newsflash, I still love him. I always will. It wasn’t a divorce...Don’t you ever talk about Colin and my marriage. How dare you say that I want a divorce on a public platform when I didn’t even know you existed until tonight. I can love them both. I can be sad I traumatically lost Colby. I can be happy to be married to Colin now. Be a better human being. Read up and do research on grief and widowhood.”
Cave Boit shared a screenshot of the exchange to Instagram Stories reiterating her feelings.
“People (strangers or not strangers) that make it a competition between the two: I’m allowed to love both,” she wrote. “I’m allowed to be happy. I’m allowed to be sad…. Why do people think I should be forced to pick one or the other? Become a widow at 26, then come talk to me [about] how I should live my life and who I should love.”
The 31-year-old was so frustrated, she said she would “expose every single person” who sent hurtful messages.
“Keep your mouths shut. Keep your fingers from typing idiotic crap,” she added.
In a separate slide, she urged people to “stop creating the divide” in her grief.
“It’s actually disgusting that people can make my grief and my husband’s death and now my marriage about their feelings and opinions….I’m done,” she wrote.
Cave Boit said her husband Colin, “does not like social media, pictures, videos and being public.”
“The amount of you that message asking about a divorce is actually insane,” she concluded.
Cave Boit had been married to the 25-year-old hockey player for less than a year when he suffered a rare brain bleed. After a brief hospitalization, he died on April 11, 2020. She has been open about her grief and navigating widowhood in her book, "For Colb: The Vow Beyond 'Till Death Do Us Part.'"
In May 2021, Cave Boit met with some of her late-husband's friends. "We went back to one of the teammate's homes and a few of them encouraged me to start dating again. They said, 'We know you miss Caver — we all do. But you gotta get out there when you're ready...," Cave Boit told Yahoo Canada earlier this year. "I would get mad because it was like, 'Do you not get it? Do you not understand that I had this whole life planned and within a second it was gone?' I was like, 'I just can't do that.'"
Months later, she matched with Colin on a dating website and they began dating. The pair married in June 2024 in a Malibu wedding.
"I wouldn't be married to Colin today if it weren't for Colby," she said. "Colby is part of the story of my life and I will always be very protective of him. The relationship doesn't just stop. The way I see it, I'm fortunate to have a husband in heaven and a husband on earth."
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