EXCLUSIVE

2/19 -- Charo just released a statement confirming "the love of my life killed himself." She said, "There are no words to describe what we are feeling now. In recent years, his health began to decline and he developed a rare and horrible skin disease called Bullous Pemphigoid." The condition causes chronic blistering of the skin.

She added, "He also became very depressed. That, along with the many medications he needed to take, became too much for him, and he ended his suffering."

Charo also urged fans if they knew of anyone suffering from depression or illness to hold them close, and insisted suicide is not the answer.

Singer and actress Charo's husband of more than 40 years is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound ... TMZ has learned.

Kjell Rasten shot himself Monday afternoon around 2 PM in the Beverly Hills home where he and '70s icon Charo lived ... according to law enforcement sources. We're told Charo was home at the time and someone in the house called 911.

Police and paramedics responded, and Rasten was transported to a hospital, but they were unable to save him. We're told he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Rasten was a TV producer in the '70s and '80s. He and Charo married in 1978, and had one child together ... actor and producer Shel Rasten.

Charo and Kjell, along with their son, appeared on a 2015 episode of the ABC show, "Celebrity Wife Swap." They swapped with Charo's old "Love Boat" co-star, Jill Whelan.

Kjell was 79 years old.

RIP