It’s been two months since we reported that Suzanne Somers‘ widower Alan Hamel had found love again with the Three’s Company actress’s former co-star Joanna Cassidy. Over the weekend, we reported that Hamel, 89, had confirmed that he and Cassidy, 80, are still going strong.
Now, Cassidy has broken her silence for the first time since news of her romance with Hamel broke.
Cassidy Sounds Off After Turning 80
Cassidy celebrated her 80th birthday earlier this month on August 2. She marked the occasion with a photoshoot on a beach in Malibu, California. There, she told People Magazine that she feels “no different than when I was 30, quite honestly.”
“Time is an illusion!” she explained. “I’m very aware of the fact that it’s passing very quickly, but it’s sort of nothing. I just say, ‘Go day by day.'”
Cassidy went on to admit that she “can’t say I’m excited about the number.” However, she was quick to add that “otherwise it’s just another adventure, another decade.”
“I know I’ll make it through beautifully and come out the other side of that one,” she continued. “Who knows what’ll happen after that? Just a decade. I think that when I turned 50, that was sort of the hard one, but this is just icing on the cake. I feel like I’m 35 and I think I look pretty good.”
Cassidy Finds Love With Hamel
Cassidy’s new romance with Hamel is undoubtedly helping her to feel better than ever these days. She met him decades ago when she was interviewed by him on his eponymous talk show The Alan Hamel Show in the 1970s.
Cassidy went on to co-star with his wife Somers in the 1985 miniseries Hollywood Wives. The official log-line for the miniseries describes it as being “a three-part, six-hour adaptation of Jackie Collins’ book about a group of very wealthy, attractive, snobbish women who are caught up in the low life and high society of Hollywood.”
Hamel still remembers the dynamic that Somers and Cassidy had on the set of the miniseries.
“Suzanne really liked her a lot, and Suzanne also was a great professional. So the two of them got along great,” Hamel recently recalled to People Magazine. He then said that both Somers and Cassidy avoided a lot of the nonsense that comes with being in Hollywood.
“She and Suzanne spent quite a bit of time together during the production of that miniseries, and I was there a lot, almost every day, and so we reconnected and that was it, period,” Hamel stated.
Hamel And Cassidy Reconnect
After losing touch for decades, Hamel and Cassidy reconnected after Somers death. She passed away in October of 2023 one day before her 77th birthday. She had battled breast cancer for 23 years before her death.
“It just happened naturally,” Hamel told People of his connection to Cassidy. “I’m blessed. I’m grateful for that. And I’m grateful for the relationship that I have with Joanna. It’s very special.”
As for Cassidy herself, she’s focused on staying young by nurturing her mind, body, and spirit.
“I think the most important thing that I do, which I’ve been learning how important it is, is to give back,” the former Blade Runner star said in her latest interview. “I’m not on that trajectory anymore, where I have to accomplish things. The only things I have to accomplish are taking care of myself and working out and being a kind, loving person.”
“My mind is still open to learning how to be a good person,” she continued. “And every time I find another instance where I can be that, I just feel better. I know that has to do with your DNA, your all-around cellular health.”
Cassidy Believes This Romance Was Fate
As for her new relationship with Hamel, Cassidy believes that it was meant to be.
“I love to walk, I love to exercise,” Cassidy said. “It’s important to me to interact with people and hear them and listen and see what kind of exchange we can make. It was sort of miraculous to run into Alan. I hadn’t even seen him in 30 years.”
Somers and Hamel were married for 46 years before her death. While some have expressed surprise that he’s moving on with one of her former co-stars, others believe that Somers would want him to find happiness again.
Here’s hoping that Hamel and Cassidy have many years of happiness together to come. Happy belated 80th birthday, Joanna Cassidy!