Strange Things About Suzanne Somers' Marriage

As Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, Suzanne Somers' character could have had her pick of men, but in real life, the now 70-something-year-old star has only had her eyes for one man for over 50 years. The actor, author, and business guru is still as gorgeous as she was in the '70s and '80s, when she was known as the "Jiggle Queen." Even back in 1979, her husband, Alan Hamel, knew that his wife was special. 

"All right, there was a time when we'd go out and everyone would stare at her, and it bothered me," he admitted to The Washington Post, but then went on to explain what life was like with the blonde bombshell. "But I realized it was probably the supreme compliment they could pay her and me. We go out and try to do it normally, but it doesn't work. She'll put on a hat or a pair of dark glasses, but people know the way she walks, they know the shape of her body. The only way she could ever get away unnoticed would be for her to wear a ski mask."

These days, the longtime couple is still grabbing headlines about their relationship and how they make it work. Let's explore the fascinating — and sometimes downright strange — life that Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel have shared.

Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel may have been married for over 40 years, as of this writing, but they did not have the most normal of starts to their romance. They couple met in 1967 while on the set of a game show called The Anniversary Game, on which Hamel was the host. According to The Washington Post, it was Somers' first and only day on set as a prize model whose job was to "[open] the refrigerator door." 

At the time, Hamel was separated from his artist/fashion designer wife, Marilyn Shapiro, and Somers was newly divorced (via Country Living) — both parties also had kids from their previous relationships, but they decided to get together quickly, anyway. In 2017, the former Three's Company actor opened up to People about the beginnings of their decades-long romance. "I went on my first date with him [and] slept with him on the first date [because] I thought, 'I may never get another chance,'" she explained. Luckily, as Somers went on to gush, "It was so incredible. I've been with him ever since." She called their connection "instant."

According to People, Hamel officially divorced Shapiro 10 years later in 1977. In November that year, he and Somers finally tied the knot. Talk about staying power.

Suzanne Somers regularly gushes about her sex life in both her books and in the numerous interviews she's given over the years. She and Alan Hamel also regularly pack on the PDA. But during a 2013 appearance on The Talk (via Us Weekly), Somers revealed the frequency of their bedroom shenanigans: "[We have sex] a couple times a day." She then went on to praise her husband's libido, saying, "What is it about men at four in the morning? And then I'm really awake around eight or so. We have busy mornings."

However, Somers and Hamel have apparently only gotten better at their morning routine. The Step By Step alum later raised a few eyebrows when she revealed that they had upped their lovemaking sessions from twice a day. In March 2021, Somers divulged on Heather Dubrow's World, "But what time is it, like noon? I've had sex with him three times so far today. What is it about 4:30 in the morning that suddenly, there he is? I'm going, 'Could you just wait until the sun comes up?'"

Their secret? The undisputed ThighMaster admitted that she and her husband get a weekly peptide PT-141 shot that ups their libido, per the Daily Mail. "I'm kind of in that groove, like when you were younger and you're in the mood all the time, and so is he because he's on hormone replacements," Somers raved.

Early on in her relationship with Alan Hamel, Suzanne Somers blurred the lines between reality and fantasy. Those who follow the actor know that she had a rough childhood as the daughter of a violent alcoholic. In a 1990 interview with the Chicago Tribune, she revealed that her 19-year-old self told some whoppers about her family to Hamel, because she didn't believe that she was lovable. 

"So I made up somebody I thought he could love. I told him my father was dead and had been a brain surgeon. Then I had to get rid of my mother because I didn't want him to meet her and have her spoil my story," Somers told the outlet. But as lies go, she felt she needed to carry on with her fabrication, confessing, "Then I didn't want him to think I was poor so I told him I was living on an inheritance from my father. I told terrible lies for two years. It was an awful way to live, but it provided great crises and fit into this sick pattern of my life."

However, her man came through for her in a big way. Hamel reassured her, "'It's you that I love, not the story you made up of your life. Let's just start over.”' Somers added, "And that was the first, most important lesson I ever learned in my life. I learned that I was lovable." No wonder she fell so hard for him. Tissues, anybody?

Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel may have been crazy about each other, but they had difficulty blending their families. Like Somers' character, Carol Foster, on Step by Step, she and her real-life husband struggled to get their kids on the same page, as Hamel's children, Leslie and Stephen Hamel, and her son, Bruce Somers, apparently refused to make it easy for them. 

According to a 1991 Closer Weekly interview, Somers said that "they all acted out," and told People around this same time that part of the problem was a lack of boundaries. "I had a set of rules — no feet on the furniture, don't borrow our clothes without asking, knock before entering — and Alan didn't," she revealed to the latter outlet. "We battled for years before we became united." Reflecting that they were put through "stepfamily hell," Somers admitted that Step By Step "couldn't be more perfect" for her to sink her acting teeth into. She also admitted that in hindsight, "I would put us all in family therapy and counseling as soon as Alan and I decided to move in together." 

Luckily, by the early '90s, the Somers and Hamel household was stronger than ever, with Somers' stepdaughter, Leslie, stating, "We're great friends today." Of course, one of the benefits of a blended family is that Somers gets to "fall in love all over again" with her six grandchildren, as she later told People in 2017. Somers added, "Kids don't know blood." Smart kids.

There's no doubt that Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel are dedicated to each other. These two don't only play together, they also work together. Hamel has been his wife's manager for decades, the duo co-founded Suzanne Somers Companies in 1980, and they seem to love spending every waking moment with each other.

In a very sweet birthday post on Instagram shared in June 2020, Somers revealed, "Over 50 years ago I wrapped [my] arms around you and knew I would never let you go." Soon after, the smitten septuagenarian gushed to Fox News that the secret to their marriage is simple: "He turns me on." The blonde bombshell went on to reveal how close their bond really is. "Our relationship has really deepened and I don't remember the last time we argued," she said. "We are together 24 hours a day and not one night apart in over 40 years. I crave another 40." As Somers previously divulged on TODAY's One Small Thing series, "We're so compatible that even a cross tone will hurt one another's feelings." 

Basically, their dynamic seems to be so different from countless other celeb couples whose marriages appear to be on the rocks. Perhaps Somers and Hamel could give their peers a few pointers?

Suzanne Somers regularly chats with her fans via Facebook Live. But all hell broke loose on Feb. 5, 2021, as the blonde bombshell was showing her fans how she contoured her face using her organic makeup line, per Page Six, when an almost naked man trespassed onto the couple's California estate while Somers was at home with her husband, Alan Hamel. What happened next stunned her viewers who watched the confrontation go down in real time.

Both Somers and Hamel made headlines for remaining calm while confronting the intruder. Apparently, Somers had previously invited over guests for dinner and was initially friendly toward the man. But when she saw that he lacked, um, clothes, she quickly realized that he was intruding on her property. "Come over here," she told him, but he could not be seen in the video footage. He responded, "I was slightly terrified over there for a second." When she questioned him, he said, "There were ghosts following me." He later also told her that he had a "gift" for her. However, Somers put him straight, "You shouldn't be here. This is our house." At one point, she also told him, "You don't scare me."

For his part, Hamel later helped to escort the man from the property. Noting that she kept calm to keep her viewers calm, Somers revealed to Page Six of an unexpected upside, "The great thing is that he was almost naked so I could see he didn't have anything."

During the final months of 2019, Suzanne Somers fractured her hip. After being on bed rest for a month and a half, she was finally able to move around on crutches. At the time, she told the New York Post, "I wish I could say that I fractured it having too much sex. But when you have a fractured hip, there is no sex." Similarly, when she injured her neck during a fall in 2020, rumors began flying that she and Alan Hamel had been making love when the accident occurred.

However, Somers set the record straight to Page Six that October, when she explained how she injured herself. "Alan and I had a terrible fall ... I was waiting at the top of the stairs — that's what happens when you are so in love with each other — I was waiting at the top of the stairs for Alan, the love of my life, and I've got a crutch [due to my hip fracture], and he grabs my hand and missteps and he goes down." She then went on to explain, "Because we're holding hands, that's the problem with being in love with each other, I go on top of him." 

In true Somers form, she couldn't resist adding her own brand of naughty humor to the story, quipping, "I've had more fun being on top of him."

As it must be obvious at this point, Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel have had their fair share of being in the news for their sexual relationship. The hot couple seemingly cannot keep their hands off each other, and Somers loves waxing lyrical about her 80-something-year-old husband's prowess. But sometimes, their admissions can get them into a bit of trouble. 

While appearing on Megyn Kelly TODAY in 2017, Somers revealed, "Sometimes I'm not awake for it though," referring to her husband occasionally initiating lovemaking while she's asleep. The interview quickly sparked a furor about marital sex consent, per Glamour, with the outlet pointing out the dangers of poking fun at such a serious issue.

Seemingly undeterred by the backlash, Somers later shared that she and her hubby would handle a particular awkward bedroom situation very differently. When TooFab asked the couple what they would do if one of their kids walked in on them having sex in 2019, Somers responded, "You pull the sheet up." Meanwhile, Hamel joked, "You just keep going. Just pretend nothing's happening." At the time, he was 82 years old, and abjectly added, "And maybe nothing is happening."  

Suzanne Somers' Malibu house was destroyed in a fire in 2007, per Reuters. But at the time, she felt optimistic, saying, "We'll rebuild and I really think we'll learn something great from this." She added, "What else can you do with tragedy but look for the opportunity to grow? It was a beautiful house. It was a beautiful place to live." However, she didn't know that her nightmare was only about to begin. 

Somers and her husband, Alan Hamel, moved into a rental home, not realizing that a dangerous black mold was lurking. The couple became seriously ill, with doctors diagnosing Hamel with Parkinson's disease and telling her that she had cancer, as the mold caused respiratory issues, facial tics, and spasms. "We had serious amounts of toxicity in the body," Somers later wrote in her 2015 book, Tox-Sick: From Toxic to Not Sick (via the New York Daily News). Sharing that the detoxing process took the couple four years, Somers added that the couple began to follow a strict regimen of vitamins and other alternative aids to help them maintain their health. 

And for two people who are clearly still so crazy about each other, health is everything.