Suzanne Somers‘ widower has found love again — with one of his late wife’s former costars.
Producer Alan Hamel, who was married to the Three’s Company actress from 1977 until she died in 2023, is now dating Joanna Cassidy, who appeared with Sommers in 1985 miniseries Hollywood Wives.
“I don’t know where this relationship is going,” Hamel told Page Six for a story published Wednesday that confirmed the two are dating, after they were photographed going to a restaurant in Malibu, Calif.
Hamel has said that Somers, who was also known for TV’s Step by Step and movie American Graffiti, told him she wanted him to find romance after she died of breast cancer at the age of 76.
“Since Suzanne was my only date for over 50 years, I’m a virgin dater,” he told the same outlet in December. “Suzanne told me when we knew the end was near not to ‘mope around’ and live my life.”
Hamel has a long history with Cassidy, partly because of Somers.
“I have known Joanna Cassidy for over 45 years,” he explained. “Joanna was a guest star on [talk show] The Alan Hamel Show in Canada in the ’70s. She was a great guest and it was a dynamic show, and we liked each other, not romantically, but mainly with respect. Both of us were married at the time.”
Hamel and Cassidy met again when she and Somers costarred on Hollywood Wives, which was based on a Jackie Collins novel. They costarred alongside Candice Bergen, Stefanie Powers, and Angie Dickinson.
Hamel recalled he and Cassidy having been “very cordial” at the time. But sparks flew when they were reintroduced again, and both were single.
“My son [from a previous marriage] met Joanna at a screening and after a long conversation suggested to Joanna that she and me would get along and should meet,” Hamel explained. “Stephen did not know we knew each other.”
Cassidy is best known for her work in movies including 1982’s Blade Runner, 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and, in 1991, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. She appeared on all five seasons of HBO’s series Six Feet Under between 2001 and 2005.
Days after Somers died, her husband spoke about his grief on Today.
“We had talked about this day coming, and we thought it was going to be me because I’m 10 years older,” Hamel said. “If that happened she would be alone, which was a terrible conundrum, the idea of her being alone.”
He remembered his wife as “an amazing, amazing woman.”
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“Aside from all her accomplishments, she was an amazing wife and an amazing mother as well,” Hamel said. “She’s the one who pulled our family together. I didn’t do it. She did it. She really knew what she was doing. So I will miss her.”
EW has reached out to reps for Hamel and Cassidy.
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