Sheryl Sandberg says one of her most meaningful moments since being widowed was when her son encouraged her to recreate a photo shoot with her second husband.
During Thursday’s episode of the “All About Anderson Cooper” podcast, the former Meta COO discussed losing her late husband, Dave Goldberg, in 2015. Their children were 10 and 7 years old at the time.
Sandberg later fell in love again with Tom Bernthal and married in 2022.
In the podcast, Sandberg recounted how she found herself grieving for Goldberg during a recent trip to South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, where they shot one of her favorite honeymoon photos.
Her 21-year-old son, who once told her not to remarry, now urges her to take the same photo with Bernthal and says Goldberg will be glad she found him.
“It was one of the most important moments of my life, and it just happened,” Sandberg told host Anderson Cooper. “I wish more people who had lost a spouse could experience a moment like this with their children.”
Sandberg said she often tells widows and widowers two things: Things will get better and they can find love again if they want to.
“Everyone kind of gasps and pauses and then breathes a sigh of relief and they say, ‘Thank you for saying that. No one said that.’ And then almost as often they say, ‘But I don’t want to upset my kids,'” Sandberg said. “Not kids. I’m talking about grown kids.”
She acknowledged that it can be painful for adult children to watch their parents date after losing a spouse.
But, she said, parents spend most of their lives caring for their children, and adult children “have an opportunity to do something for their parents” by supporting the surviving parent in finding companionship.
“I don’t blame adult children who don’t do that. I think they just haven’t thought about it,” Sandberg said, adding that they may not realize how lonely widowed parents can feel once their children return to their partners and families.
“It’s a matter of giving them permission to move on. Permission, even encouragement,” she said.