Suzanne Somers “fought until her last breath” to stay alive — and died holding her beloved husband Alan Hamel’s hand.
Still numb from the loss of his wife of nearly 50 years, Hamel told Page Six that Somers — a famous fan of holistic medicine — used every treatment available after her breast cancer returned earlier this year.
The actress died at 5 a.m. at her Palm Springs, California, home Sunday morning, a day before her 77th birthday.
“We continued our search for the right thing to do at all times,” Hamel, 87, said, revealing that Somers relied on “alternative, integrative and allopathic [Western medicine]” treatments.
“It got to the point where cancer is very tricky. Just when you think everything is fine and you get an all clear, cancer does an end-run … cancer is ugly, it’s an epidemic,” he said with a sigh.
“One of the things we talked about was that we knew that this day was coming,” he said. However, “We thought it was going to be me [first] because I am 10 years older than her … It was a conundrum. I said, ‘If I pass, then you’ll be alone. I can’t imagine you being alone, there is no solution.’”
The “Three’s Company” star spent seven weeks before her death at a physical therapy clinic in Chicago, struggling to deal with pain after breaking her neck when she fell down stairs at home in 2020. Hamel fell down with her.
Somers’ long-time rep R. Couri Hay told Page Six: “She never truly recovered from her fall on the stairs, and cancer weakens your bones.
“Alan was with her, they rarely spent an hour apart in 55 years together. She spent seven weeks there and then headed home for her birthday. She planned to be with her family.
“Her son Bruce, daughter Leslie and daughter-in-law Caroline all arrived the day before her birthday and all she wanted was cake — she was always happiest with a red velvet cupcake.”
However, by the time Somers’ family arrived, she was in a “weakened state,” according to Hay. “She fought until her last breath, using every form of medicine,” he said. “She went peacefully after raging and fighting for her life.”
Now, he said, “Suzanne’s grandchildren came to celebrate, but instead all the family are together celebrating her life and legacy, not her birthday.”
Although she played “one of the best dumb blondes that’s ever been done” — her own description of Chrissy Snow on “Three’s Company” — Somers was actually way ahead of her time as the original Hollywood influencer.
That sitcom made her famous in the late ’70s, but her life changed again when she became the spokesperson for ThighMaster, a workout device that she hawked on infomercials.
She claimed to use it herself twice a day, keeping one in her purse, by her bed and in her car.
Somers told CNBC that she stopped counting how many ThighMasters were sold after hitting 10 million— and said that she made $300 million in sales over the years.
As she told CNBC: “I sell to my age group, that’s what I know … The public is smart, and they can smell BS.”
Her empire expanded to include exercise videos (the Somersize Method), a line of olives oils and books on fitness, marriage, cooking and dieting, beauty and fashion.
Somers also shared her traumatic childhood in her memoir, “Keeping Secrets,” in which she talked about growing up as the daughter of an alcoholic.
When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, Somers had surgery and radiation, but refused chemotherapy, instead turning to an organic diet and reducing her chemical exposure.
She told “Entertainment Tonight” back in 2017: “[I take] maybe 60 vitamins a day, You know, I’m in optimal health, so whatever it takes.”
Among the actress’ supplements were hydrochloric acid and digested enzymes, which she used to help digest her food after going through radiation to treat breast cancer in 2000.
Somers also wrote several books about alternative treatments for cancer and other diseases — including “Knockout: Interviews With Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer” and “Tox-Sick: From Toxic to Not-Sick” — which sometimes drew rebukes from doctors who accused her of spreading misinformation.
She also promoted so-called bioidentical hormone supplements, which she claimed boosted her and her husband’s libidos and touted as “the fountain of youth.” (This also got pushback from the medical community.)
Hamel told Page Six: “Someone asked me this morning, ‘How do you think Suzanne will be remembered?’ It’s not like she’s had only one career. She’s had several different careers she succeeded with … she was pioneering in direct-to-consumer infomercials.”
He said there are some friends who will remember Somers as a poet. “I heard from two people who only know Suzanne as a poet. Her first book in 1973 was a book of poetry.”
Although she was dealing with a recurrence of breast cancer, Somers kept a bright smile on her face and didn’t tell friends just how serious her illness was.
One of her best friends, Kari Clark — the widow of TV legend Dick Clark — told Page Six Monday that she was reeling from her pal Somers’ death.
“There was nothing not to love about her, she was a very special person,” Clark said. “It’s a big loss and a very sad day for me.”
Clark, 80, last saw Somers just a few months ago at home in Palm Springs. Although Somers was a “gourmet cook,” they went out to eat as the star was still suffering from her fall.
“Suzanne was recovering and said it had been kind of a bad year. They had lived in their house for about 40 years and it was difficult to move around in, it had a lot of steps.
“Although she was still not 100%, her personality and conversation were the same,” Clark said.
The friends met nearly 50 years ago and lived together before attending each other’s weddings in 1977.
Somers dropped out of Lone Mountain College in San Francisco in 1965 after discovering she was pregnant. She married her son Bruce’s father, Bruce Somers, days later.
They divorced in the late 1960s, and she met Hamel while working as a prize model on the set of “The Anniversary Game”; Hamel was the guest host.
“Dick and Alan were partners on some television shows and Suzanne would have been the pretty girl on the shows like Vanna White. I worked at Dick’s company and we were both involved with our men and that was the beginning of the friendship,” Clark said.
Celebs were quick to pay tribute as well. “Friends” star Courteney Cox posted a video to social media of her making dinner with Somers and wrote: “Rest in peace my beautiful friend Suzanne.”
Hamel said he planned to continue their business as per his wife’s wishes, saying she told him: “I would like that to be my legacy — for all the people that I [got] to know during home shopping at the very beginning.”
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