Inside Ray Liotta's Romance with Fiancée Jacy Nittolo — and How His Daughter Set Them Up: 'Love of My Life'
Ray Liotta once called his fiancée Jacy Nittolo the "love of my life."
PEOPLE confirmed Thursday that the Goodfellas actor died at age 67. He's survived by Nittolo, her four kids, and his daughter Karsen, 23, whom he shared with ex-wife Michelle Grace.
Liotta revealed his engagement to Nittolo in December 2020, writing on Instagram, "Christmas wishes do come true. I asked the love of my life to marry me, and thank God she said yes!!!"
This past November, he told PEOPLE about growing closer with her during isolation in the pandemic. "Luckily, I had met somebody, and it brought us really, really close, to the point now where I'm engaged," he said at the time. "So I like to think that was the reason. I've heard that there's a lot of people whose relationship didn't work out because they were with each other so much. But she's just great."
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Jacy Nittolo/Instagram
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Nittolo's most recent Instagram upload is from Jan. 25, a smiley beach photo of herself with Liotta from a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, plus a second snapshot of the two sharing a kiss. She captioned it with a heart and palm tree emoji.
BACKGRID Ray Liotta and fiancée Jacy Nittolo photographed on May 1, 2022
On Live with Kelly and Ryan back in September, Liotta revealed that his daughter Karsen and Nittolo's son, who are around the same age, met at a party where Karsen told Nittolo to go on a date with her movie-star dad. At first she wanted "nothing to do with" an actor "whatsoever," according to Liotta.
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With a laugh, he said that when Nittolo found out Liotta's name, she said, " 'Wait a second though, isn't he, like, in his 60s? I'm in my 40s.' But the buzz-kill for me was she also had a 10 year old. When you're in your 60s, the last thing that you want is a 10 year old. Luckily this kid is very cool!"
When he spoke to PEOPLE last year, Liotta also opened up about not taking family for granted. Raised in New Jersey, the star was adopted from an orphanage as a baby by his father Alfred, an auto parts store owner, and mom Mary.
"At first, I didn't understand how a parent could give up a child," he said. "So I had that kind of energy of just being like, that's f---ed up. And then when I finally met my birth mom in my 40s, by then, I wasn't as angry about it. It's just another journey."
Added Liotta, "After years, you grow up, and you just see the pattern of things. I've definitely developed more patience. Now I'm grateful for my health. And being born. For my parents that adopted me. I mean, it could have gone a lot of different ways."
