Nate Berkus Spends Day In Ocean 17 Years After Surviving Tsunami

 

CREDIT: Nate Berkus/Instagram

Nate Berkus has recently spent the day in the ocean with his kids after surviving a tsunami in 2004.

While on holiday with then partner Fernando Bengoechea in Sri Lanka, a tsunami hit and swept them out of their hotel. Nate survived the tragedy which took the lives of thousands, while Fernando was never found.

Nate now shares two children with husband Jeremiah Brent and after many, many years, Nate is finally able to step back into the ocean.

Jeremiah acknowledged the huge step for Nate being able to walk in the ocean with daughter Poppy in an Instagram post captioned, "One of the most profound and unrecognised parts of Nate's spirit is his strength. I watched my husband, who survived such tragedy and such loss in 2004, walk our children into the ocean earlier this week. He has broken the chain of fear and wades in the water, full of laughter and full of joy. There is no one like him."

CREDIT: Nate Berkus/Instagram

Jeremiah also noted that it would have been Fernando's 56th birthday. "Our family will always keep his art and story alive, even as we move forward. Always."

Ellen Pompeo, known for playing Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy, commented on Jeremiah's post saying, "Definitely crying for all the reasons...the beauty of the human spirit and its journey."

Nate has stated that Fernando will "never be forgotten."

The couple has proved to be keeping his memory alive, not only by hanging his pictures inside their home, but also by giving their son Fernando's middle name Oskar.

"Fernando is a part of our love story. It's such an important chapter in Nate's life. So the idea that we can honour his memory in a beautiful way was exciting to us," Jeremiah revealed in 2018.

CREDIT: Richard Foulser/Richard Foulser

Two years after, the two bought a beach home in Montauk, New York. This was a tough decision for Nate but he said, "I didn't want my experience in the tsunami to deprive our family of summers like that."

It has been revealed that Nate has a better relationship with the sea and explained that "he trusts the water again to some extent."