Suzanne Somers Dead at 76: Revisiting Her Decades-Long Marriage to Alan Hamel
Suzanne Somers had a love story for the ages. The actress, who died on Oct. 15 after a decades-long cancer battle, had her husband, Alan Hamel, by her side through it all.
After meeting in 1969, the pair tied the knot in 1977 and went on to spend the next 40-plus years together.
"My cancer is a disease that affected my whole family and once it hit me in my 20s, Alan and I got even closer and every moment of every day was precious. We have not spent even one day apart in over 42 years. That’s the big upside of my cancer," Somers, who is mom to Bruce, 57, from her first marriage, told ET in July 2023. "My son refers to our relationship as functionally co-dependent. And my incredible family has been unbelievably supportive every step of the way."
Keep reading for a full timeline of Somers and Hamel's romance.
1969 -- They Meet
One year after Somers and her first husband, Bruce Somers, called it quits, the actress met Hamel on the set of The Anniversary Game. Somers was let go from her role as a prize model after one day on the job, but managed to make an impression on Hamel, the show's host, during her short stint.
"I went home so dejected," she told the Television Academy in 2010. "But Alan Hamel, who was the host of that show, had found my phone number on the AFTRA forms. He shouldn't have been reading it, but he found it and called me, and here we are."
In a 2019 interview with Daily Mail, Somers revealed that she had sex with Hamel on their first date.
"Oh, he's just so beautiful," she said. "I had sex with him on our very first date just in case there wasn't a second one. I just wanted to be with him that first time."
1977 -- They Say "I Do"
Hamel, who has two kids from his first marriage, dated Somers for years before they exchanged vows. In 2017, Somers told ET that her and Hamel's courtship marked some of their hardest times together.
"We were fighting... but we didn't know what we were fighting over," she said of her first 10 years with Hamel. "We were fighting over control and power and all those things, and children's feelings, and the great news is that we worked it out."
1980s -- Hamel Becomes Somers' Manager
In 2006, Hamel told Inc. why he took over for Somer's previous manager when she was starring as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company.
"When Suzanne was doing Three's Company, I was doing a television series in Canada," Hamel said. "I noticed her manager was making a lot of short-term deals for her, not career-oriented, long-term deals. I wanted to stop doing the TV show in Canada, so we decided to terminate the manager and I'd take over. We've been doing it that way ever since."
Around the same time, Somers and Hamel were living the life, often dancing the night away at Studio 54. In 2022, Somers told ET that she and Hamel would dance until "the wee hours of the morning," before taking a limo back to a "fabulous" hotel to conclude the night.
"We had the best time ever. We loved it. And then I'd come back to Los Angeles and I'd go in the studio and do Three's Company, and then at night I'd do magazine covers, and then [on] the weekend we'd fly to New York," she says. "What a life, huh?"
She added, "When you look up [photos from] Studio 54 with Alan and I... what you'll mainly see on my face is pure joy and excitement. That's what Studio 54 was. Pure joy and excitement and a thrill, a real thrill."
1991 -- The ThighMaster Commercial
In 2020, Somers told Entrepreneur how Hamel inspired her famous ThighMaster commercial.
"I had bought this pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes that were at that time, 500 bucks. I was in my dressing room and thought, 'Oh my husband is going to think this is so crazy spending this much money.' But for me, they were perfect," she said. "So I walked out of my dressing room in my underwear and I said to my husband, 'Like my new shoes?' And he said, 'Great legs!' And I went, 'Oh my god, that's the commercial!' That's how we started the commercial if you recall. We sold 10 million ThighMasters right out of the gate."
Then, in 2022, Somers told the Hollywood Raw podcast that she made about $300 million thanks to the ThighMaster.
2000 -- Somers Is Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
"It was like a black cloud descended," Hamel told People in 2001 of learning of his wife's breast cancer diagnosis. "That day was the saddest day of my life."
In the days that followed, Somers said "there was silence" between her and Hamel. "Neither of us knew what to say," she recalled. "We were just stunned."
After surgery, Somers was in "incredible pain," but Hamel was by her side through it all.
"For five days he stayed in bed with me," she said. "Business didn't exist. He brought me soup and turned off the phones."
January 2007 -- Their House Burns Down
Somers and Hamel suffered a major tragedy in 2007 when their Malibu home was destroyed in a wildfire.
"It's a total loss," a rep for Hamel told The East Valley Tribune at the time. "The good news is Alan and Suzanne weren't hurt."
A decade past before Somers and Hamel rebuilt their home.
"How can you not be happy? It took a long time since our house burned down to get back on the water," she told People of her rebuilt home in 2017. "I can't get over it. It's such a gift. There's just a lot of nature and light and beauty and I love my life."
2017 -- Life Is Good
ET spoke to Somers in 2017 and got an update on her relationship with Hamel.
"We sit here at night and listen to music and pretend we have our trio in the other room," Somers told ET during a tour of her home. "And we talk and dance and it's nice. Life is good."
Hamel agreed, telling ET, "We are together 24/7, and we haven't spent one night apart in over 37 years. It works for us."
"I never get tired of him," Somers agreed.
2019 -- They Have an Active Sex Life
In a 2019 interview with Daily Mail, Somers revealed that she and Hamel were having sex two times per day thanks to weekly injections of a "sexual stimulant that works on your brain."
"I usually say I sleep through one of them. That's usually that one at 4 o'clock in the morning," she quipped of their first romp of the day. "But, you know, then again around 8 o'clock in the morning, I'm in the mood."
July 2023 -- Somers' Cancer Returns
In an exclusive statement to ET, Somers revealed her cancer had returned, and said her husband was there to support her once again.
"My cancer is a disease that affected my whole family and once it hit me in my 20s, Alan and I got even closer and every moment of every day was precious. We have not spent even one day apart in over 42 years. That's the big upside of my cancer," she said. "My son refers to our relationship as functionally co-dependent. And my incredible family has been unbelievably supportive every step of the way."
Oct. 15, 2023 -- Somers Dies
R. Couri Hay, Somers' publicist and longtime friend, confirmed that the actress died in the early hours of Oct. 15 with her husband and son by her side.
"Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family," Hay told ET. "... . A private family burial will take place this week, with a memorial to follow next month."
Shortly thereafter, ET obtained a copy of the love poem Hamel penned for Somers and gifted her ahead of her 77th birthday, which she would've celebrated one day after her death. Read the poem in full below.
Love I use it every day, sometimes several times a day. I use it at the end of emails to my loving family. I even use it in emails to close friends. I use it when I'm leaving the house. There's love, then love you and I love you!!
Therein lies some of the different ways we use love. Sometimes I feel obliged to use love, responding to someone who signed love in their email, when I'm uncomfortable using love but I use it anyway.
I also use love to describe a great meal. I use it to express how I feel about a show on Netflix. I often use love referring to my home, my cat Gloria, to things Gloria does, to the taste of a cantaloupe I grew in my garden. I love the taste of a freshly harvested organic royal jumbo Medjool date. I love biting a fig off the tree. I love watching two giant blackbirds who live nearby swooping by my window in a power dive. My daily life encompasses things and people I love and things and people I am indifferent to.
I could go on ad infinitum, but you get it. What brand of love do I feel for my wife Suzanne? Can I find it in any of the above? A resounding no!!!!
There is no version of the word that is applicable to Suzanne and I even use the word applicable advisedly. The closest version in words isn't even close. It's not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Unconditional love does not do it. I'll take a bullet for you doesn't do it.
I weep when I think about my feelings for you. Feelings… that's getting close, but not all the way. 55 years together, 46 married and not even one hour apart for 42 of those years. Even that doesn't do it. Even going to bed at 6 o'clock and holding hands while we sleep doesn't do it.
Staring at your beautiful face while you sleep doesn't do it. I'm back to feelings. There are no words. There are no actions. No promises. No declarations. Even the green shaded scholars of the Oxford University Press have spent 150 years and still have failed to come up with that one word. So I will call it, "us," uniquely, magically, indescribably wonderful "us."
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