Rachel, 36, got on the phone with HollywoodLife.com‘s Editor-in-Chief Bonnie Fuller and urgently insisted that “these quotes were taken out of context. They were given for a story that was supposed to come out in two days about my feelings about 9/11. Andy was amazing, he was too good to be true. I love Andy, I would have loved to be Andy’s wife and to be a fat housewife with kids in Long Island … That would have been the best life.”
Rachel cried and continued: “It’s like I’m personally being attacked or Andy is being attacked .. This was the biggest loss of my life and the most awful tragedy I’ve ever been through. This is hitting below the belt and it’s not OK with me.”
Rachel currently lives in San Francisco and plans to fly in for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 and “spend the day at Ground Zero.”
“I’m so upset about [the article],” she adds. “The last two years of my life have been awful [in reference to the Tiger scandal]. But not like 10 years ago. It was the worst day of my life, nothing will be the same again. If I could change it I would go back and have that day never happen. I wish the whole day could be given back. If 9/11 didn’t happen I would have loved to have been married to Andy. It’s all I ever wanted.”
Rachel emotionally details the last moments she spent with Andy the morning of the attack:
Andy and Rachel had just gotten back from a trip to Greece: “I remember every moment. We had just gotten back from a 10 day trip from Greece on Monday.”
Rachel woke up to go to her job as a segment producer at Bloomberg News on Tues, Sept 11 and Andy was sitting on their couch: “I went to work at 4:30am. Andy was sitting on the couch watching the Weather Channel and he said it would be a sunny day like it was in Greece and he asked me for our vacation photos so that he could take them to work. I luckily took the negatives or I would never have those last photos of our time together.”
Rachel will always regret not kissing him goodbye: “He asked me for a kiss and I told him I had just put on lipstick and that I’d kiss him later. I was going to look at Vera Wang wedding dresses that day.”
Andy called Rachel at 7:45am: “Andy called me to say ‘hey babe, I love you.”
Andy called Rachel after the South Tower was hit: “People didn’t think we were at war. Andy was calling in and giving a blow by blow. I wasn’t scared, just a little anxious. He had been in the first bombing [in 1993] and they stayed in their office and played poker for nine hours.”
Rachel was on the phone with Andy when the second plane hit his tower: “I was holding the receiver in my hand when the explosion hit and he said he had to go. No one thought the tower would fall.”
Rachel called Andy all day: “I know I had watched him die. I stayed at work until 5pm. I didn’t know what else to do. I was calling him all day. The only time I cried was that night. I had a panic attack at 8pm. I couldn’t believe that my fiance whose towels and underwear were still on the floor of our apartment, was gone. I slept in the closet that night with my head on his shoes.”
Rachel’s new life, job hunt and finding love again:
Rachel is now living in San Francisco and is dating former Penn State football and insurance broker Matt Hahn: “Things are going well. I wanted to give this relationship it’s own chance. It’s a fresh start to give a chance to start a new life with him. Without the memories from New York, to start a life together.”
She wants kids: “I’m looking forward to having kids one day.”
Rachel is looking for a job: “I went to the Academy for Forensic Investigation and I’m able to practice as a private investigator. I do on occasion get hired. But I’m looking for a job. I’m looking at a lot of options. But I’m ooking at going back to my roots as a reporter. That’s why I took the investigative class because it teaches you how to become a better reporter.”
Despite the new promise in her life, Rachel emphasizes again: “People have been twisting and turning my words for the past couple of years but ” I wish I could go back and have the day 9/11 never happen. I would have loved to be married to Andy. It’s all I ever wanted.”