“When we knew the end was near, we had those conversations that you have to have. And we did talk about the afterlife… We were both very spiritual and we both believed there was a higher power… When you looked at the complex insides of a human being, all those glands and arteries, how the human body operates – that didn’t come about by accident. There was an element of design. And I believe there’s another dimension we don’t understand yet. Maybe some people might think I’m wacky, but I choose to believe.”
The former TV producer is determined to keep Somers’ legacy alive. He continues to keep Somers’ social media accounts active to help promote her products from her wellness brand. Somers was known for hosting shows on Instagram and Facebook to discuss her products and interact with fans.
“When Suzanne and I were having our final conversation, she told me, ‘I want you to promise to keep developing new organic products for my ladies,'” he explained. “She always referred to [her fans] as ‘my ladies.’ We started our business the day she was fired from ‘Three’s Company.’ Back then, nobody knew what branding was. But Suzanne and I did it together. We looked for products that we would use ourselves and would help others. And the business we created together is just as vibrant today.”
“She will hang out with her ladies during lectures and cooking demos,” he continued. “She became one of them. She always told me, ‘I know who my ladies are because they’re me.’ She was very concerned about them. It was her goal to keep our business in health and beauty going. It’s a legacy business. And even though Suzanne passed, her business, her ideas, they all continued.
“We still do shows [on social media]. My daughter-in-law is the president of the company. My three granddaughters are involved. We keep designing new products, and we have a lot of products in development. The business carries on for Suzanne’s ladies. And knowing that the family is involved with the business makes me feel good. It certainly made Suzanne feel good.”
Somers was an entrepreneur who became an attendee for the ThighMaster in the ’90s. She was also a prolific, bestselling author, writing books on aging, menopause, beauty, wellness, sex and cancer.
Somers’ online business sells nutritional supplements, cosmetics, skincare and the ThighMaster.
But when Hamel isn’t busy running his late wife’s business, he “dates” – but it’s not what people think.
“Suzanne and I used to date at least once a week,” said Hamel. “We used to get dressed up and go to some little Italian or French place. I miss that a lot. So I started dating, but I’m not dating. I will only date two women friends at the same time. It’s platonic. I don’t want to be sitting there and dishonoring Suzanne in some ways because the media prints, ‘Alan Hamel’s already got a girlfriend.’ But when you’re with two women at the same time, that subject doesn’t even come up.”
“I love dating two women at the same time,” he exclaimed. “I’ve never done that in my life and I have no reason to stop. I have a lot of female friends, most of them are married, and I’m friends with their husbands. And their husbands feel fine about it. So I’m probably going to continue doing that. Right now, I’m dating two ladies at a time, and both of them love Suzanne. I probably have a lot more female friends than I have male friends because I have more to talk to them about.”
Somers and Hamel met when he was the host of 1969’s “The Anniversary Game” and she worked as a prize model. They married in 1977.
He said the secret behind their decades-long marriage in Hollywood is surprisingly simple.
“We were never apart for not even an hour,” he said. “It wasn’t by design. We didn’t say, ‘Let’s never leave each other.’ It just evolves by itself. She told me one day, ‘When you’re in the next room, I miss you.’ I said, ‘I feel the same way.’ One of our sons said, ‘You two don’t realize it, but you have a codependent relationship that is actually working.’”
“But our marriage was complicated,” Hamel admitted. “We came with children from previous relationships. Putting two families together into one has got to be one of the most difficult things for someone to take on. But Suzanne took that on. She told me she was going to do it, and she pulled it off… We had a lot of drag-out fights, mainly because of our children. But then one day she said to me, ‘There are two things I’d like for us to agree on. The first one is that no matter how bad it gets, we will never break up. The second is, we have to surrender to each other. I can’t explain it, but I think you know what that means.’ That’s what we did.”
“We surrendered to each other,” he shared. “It eliminated debates. It eliminated drag-out fights. There were things that I wanted to do, and she joined me. Vice versa. It’s codependence, but it certainly worked for us… Friends and family would ask, ‘How can you stand being with the same person nonstop for over four decades?’ It’s Suzanne. This is the way we like to live. We’re in business together. We’re partners in business and partners in life. We’re also partners in our family. It works for us. I never had a night out with the boys, and she never had a night out with the girls. It’s not like we don’t have friends. We do. But we included each other in everything we did.”
