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Two weeks after Michael died, Marie went back to work—something she calls "a calculated decision."

"The stage is my safe place," she says. "I knew that if I didn't get back onstage that I might never get back onstage."

Though Donny says he can sometimes hear Marie crying in her dressing room, she also fills the hallways with laughter. "I believe in laugher," she says. "I believe it's the greatest gift we have. ... It's a great thing we have to relive that terrible place, that pit inside of your heart."