For the last five years, Harry Connick Jr. and his wife, actress and former Victoria's Secret model Jill Goodacre, have been privately dealing with something major. In 2012, a biopsy revealed that Jill had Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma. A lumpectomy and radiation followed, but the couple kept the news quiet—until now.

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"It wasn't like we were superstitious, like if we said something about being in the clear we'd somehow jinx it," Jill said in an interview with People. "But we wanted to be well on the other side of things before we told everybody. The doctors all say that after the five-year mark, things look optimistic, so we're starting to feel pretty good."

Things weren't always so optimistic, though.

"I was scared I was going to lose her, absolutely," Harry told the publication. "I wasn't going to let her see that, but I was. I know from losing my mom that the worst can happen. She's my best friend, and I really don't know what I would do without her."

Harry's mother died of ovarian cancer when he was only 13. Jill said it broke her heart to tell their three daughters, who range from 15 to 21. And the medication she has to take, an estrogen modifier called Tamoxifen, caused Jill to gain weight.

"I've always been a pretty fit person, and so to be just rounder and heavier and not to really be able to do much about it—that's been hard," Jill shared. "It's taken a lot out of my self-confidence."

Harry was quick to add: "Even though she will always be the most beautiful woman in the world."

The two met in 1990 and married four years later. "He introduced himself, and it was truly love at first sight," Jill recalled to YourTango in 2006.

Through it all, the singer, actor, and talk show host seems to have been a strong support system for his wife. "All I wanted to do was grow old with you and have as many years as possible as I could be with you," Harry said to Jill in the interview with People.

Jill pointed out that Harry always used to talk about growing old together.

"It's true," he said. "I wanted to know what you would look like older … I made the right decision."

(h/t: People)

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Taysha Murtaugh
Lifestyle Editor

Taysha Murtaugh was the Lifestyle Editor at CountryLiving.com.