When Alan Hamel and Suzanne Somers returned home to Palm Springs, Calif., on Thursday after a six-week trip to Chicago to address her mobility problems caused by a fall, there were few signs that anything was amiss.
“The first few days we got back, she was eating, had a great appetite and was taking her medication,” Hamel, 87, tells PEOPLE exclusively. But by Saturday, Hamel knew things had changed because Somers had stopped eating and taking her medication, and she wasn’t answering his questions.
“I was up most of the night just talking to her,” he recalls. “Then I kissed her and she responded, and it was a physical lip response. I knew she was still with us and I knew she probably heard what I was saying.”
Hamel says he continued to “just talk to her for hours” until his wife of 46 years took her last breath.
“Then it was finally over,” he recalls, noting that the couple was in bed at the time. “Normally, when people don’t respond, they stop eating and they stop taking their medicine, you call 911 and they take you to the hospital. I knew she didn’t want to be in a hospital environment. That was the difference. It was so peaceful, and so everything passed.”
Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel at the 1978 Emmy Awards.
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A timeline of Suzanne Somers’ battle with cancer
Somers died early Sunday morning at the age of 76 from an aggressive form of breast cancer she had battled for more than 23 years, her longtime publicist R. Couri Hay confirmed to PEOPLE on behalf of Somers’ family. Apart from Hamel, d Three’s Company the actress was also surrounded by her son Bruce and other close family members.
The actress’ death happened a day before her 77th birthday. Several family members had already gathered to celebrate the occasion, while others were driving for the day. But after her death, they decided to mark the day in a different way, Hamel tells PEOPLE.
“We actually had a toast last night,” Hamel recalls. “There were, I think, 12 of us here and we were all toasting Suzanne. I’m sure we’re going to do something today. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to involve a lot of cake, because Suzanne was crazy about cake. All cake. But there was one kind of cake she really liked. Red velvet.”
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Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel pose for a portrait in 1980 in Los Angeles, California.
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Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel Relationship Timeline
Somers’ death marked the end of their remarkable marriage of 46 years. Hamel recalls being impressed by Somers when he met the model on the set of a marriage pageant, anniversary game, in 1969.
“We were supposed to shoot in a few hours and there was a crew around me and we were talking about last-minute finishing touches,” he explains. “I look across the stage and I see the most amazing woman I’ve ever seen in my life. And I thought, ‘I have to go over there and talk to her.'”
“So I left the team, and I started approaching and I’ve never been good with opening lines,” he continues, adding that he felt a “little panic” about what to say. “I still hadn’t figured out what I was going to say to her. So he blurted out, ‘Would you like to get me a cup of coffee?’ How’s that for stupid? And she did. She brought me a cup of coffee and there was an instant connection like I’d never felt before in my life.”
The couple married in 1977 and remained inseparable. During their marriage, the couple worked closely together to build Somers’ lifestyle brand and wellness empire, with Hamel even serving as Somers’ manager. They weren’t afraid to talk about the inner workings of their relationship, including being open about their sex lives and how they never spent a day apart. And when Somers battled breast cancer from time to time, their work took a backseat to her health.
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Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel at Clive’s birthday gala celebration on April 6, 2022.
Patrick McMullan/PMC via Getty
Read the love letter that Suzanne Somers’ husband, Alan Hamel, wrote to her the day before she died
“For the past 42 years, we haven’t been apart for even an hour. And one of our sons describes our relationship as ‘functionally codependent,’ which it probably is,” jokes Hamel.
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Despite Somers’ decades-long contributions to television, film and fitness, he believes his wife would still like to be remembered for the role Three’s Company’s iconic and “cute character”, Chrissy Snow, all these years later.
“She brought joy to everyone’s heart with that character. He was lovable and beautiful, and he was exactly what she wanted,” he says, comparing the series to other legendary series I love Lucy. “It will play forever.”
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Source: HIS Education