Suzanne Somers’ widower Alan Hamel has confirmed he’s dating his late wife’s former co-star Joanna Cassidy—with Somers’ blessing.
Before Somers passed away from breast cancer at age 76 in Oct. 2023, the Three’s Company star encouraged Hamel, 88, to find companionship again.
“Suzanne told me when we knew the end was near not to ‘mope around’ and live my life,” the former TV presenter told Page Six.
Hamel, 88, revealed that he is in a relationship with Cassidy, 79, Wednesday, after being spotted departing a Malibu restaurant with her arm-in-arm earlier this week.
Cassidy appeared alongside Somers in the 1985 miniseries Hollywood Wives. Hamel, who married Somers in 1977, said he would often encounter Cassidy while his wife was shooting the show.
“I ran into her in the mid-’80s many times during the production of Jackie Collins’ Hollywood Wives,” he told Page Six. “It was very cordial.”
They reconnected after Somers’ death, when Hamel’s son Stephen—from his first marriage to Marilyn Hamel—met Cassidy at a screening and suggested she meet his father, unaware that they were already acquainted with each other.
Hamel, who also shares a son, Bruce, with Somers, gushed about Cassidy, calling her “extremely accomplished” and a “great mother to her adult children.”
Cassidy—who was married to Kennard C. Kobrin, a doctor, from 1964 to 1974 and shares two children with him—starred in hit movies like Blade Runner, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead before transitioning to TV in the 2000s in shows like Six Feet Under.
Hamel praised her as “the hardest-working and most active actress in Hollywood for well over 50 years.” Noting that she “turns up for many fundraisers for first responders and is staff for her four cats,” he added, “She’s no Hollywood BS, and we laugh a lot.”
Hamel previously opened up about losing Somers and the depth of his grief in Oct. 2024, which marked the first anniversary of her passing.
“Missing Suzanne is probably not a powerful enough word, because for the past 55 years we didn’t even spend one hour apart,” he told the Daily Mail at the time. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Reflecting on his current relationship with Cassidy, Hamel said he feels “fortunate” to have her in his life—even if their future together remains uncertain.
“Most men would love to have a Joanna in their life,” he said. “I do not know where this relationship is going, but what I do know is that being in the cocktail hour of my life, I am blessed with a magnificent family—thanks to incredible Suzanne—a privileged life, and our business that we created 50 years ago.”
