Drew Carey reflects on final conversation with former fiancée Amie Harwick before her tragic death

Drew Carey is looking back on his final interaction with former fiancée Amie Harwick before her tragic death.

In an interview with CBS "48 Hours," set to air Saturday, "The Price is Right" host said Harwick’s abrupt death has left him with immense grief.

"I feel like a widower, you know, in a lot of ways, because I wanted to marry her, and then we had this horrible breakup," Carey told "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty. "And then before I could talk to her again, somebody killed her."

Harwick died in February 2020 after she was thrown over the third-floor balcony of her Hollywood Hills apartment, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said at the time. An autopsy determined she had been strangled first.

Harwick’s ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse was charged with one count each of murder and first-degree residential burglary with the special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait. He pleaded not guilty.

In a Thursday clip of the interview, Carey revealed his last exchange with Harwick was a sweet and amicable text message conversation.

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"Valentine's Day was a Friday," Carey recalled. "I got a text from her on Thursday. (She) said, 'Hey, I know we haven't talked in a while, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about, you know, forgiveness, and I would love to get together with you and talk.' And I said, 'Yeah, I would love to do that. I love you.' "

He added: "I say that to a lot of people, but I mean it. And I was really happy, like, 'Oh, it'd be great to see her again.' "

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Carey and Harwick dated for two years before the pair split in 2018, months after announcing their engagement. Carey said he quickly fell for Harwick when they first started dating.

"I said, 'Wow, I met this great girl. Her name's Amie. She's a Ph.D. and she's a therapist,' " Carey recalled telling those closest to him at the time. "And I said, 'If this keeps going the way it's going, I'm going to marry her.' I just said it right out, and I'd only known her for, like, a couple weeks: I just knew that she was special."

Harwick’s website described her as a marriage and sex therapist. She appeared on TV and radio and wrote a book called "The New Sex Bible for Women" in 2014.

Carey said the high-profile nature of dating a celebrity played a role in his breakup with Harwick, who suspected Pursehouse, her ex, was becoming triggered each time he would see media coverage of their relationship.

" 'I wish you weren't famous. You know? This is all because I'm dating you,' " Carey said Harwick would say to him. "That would be a fight sometimes."

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Carey has previously said forgiving Pursehouse and having compassion for him has been crucial to his personal healing.

"He's mentally ill," Carey said during an appearance on "The Talk" in April 2020. "The guy was abused when he was a kid, and, you know, you have to be able to forgive people like that. And I wish he never did it or wish he never met her, and when you forgive people that doesn't mean you have to hang out with them and be their friend."

Carey tells "48 Hours" that the mutual love he and Harwick had for one another despite their breakup also gives him peace. "That's the big solace I get from it," he said. "Is that she loved me and held me in a dear place in her heart."

He said he is especially glad to have been able to tell Harwick he loved her during their last conversation.

"I'm glad I could get that message to her before she died."

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Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drew Carey talks with '48 Hours' about former fiancée Amie Harwick