In loving memory of Suzanne Somers — my dear friend. Ageless, always. Her legacy work lives on at suzannesomers.com.
Some nights you never forget. On October 10, 2006, I stood beside Suzanne Somers at the second annual Quill Book Awards at the American Museum of Natural History in New York — the same great hall where the Met's biggest nights happen, the blue whale suspended above the room — to present the award for the year's best health & fitness book. The evening was produced by Al Roker Entertainment (Al Roker Productions), whose team has been making smart, generous television for three decades.
The winner that night? Kermit the Frog. Suzanne and I looked at each other on that stage and just laughed. It was that kind of night — big, glittering, a little absurd. I also met Donald Trump in the crowd, years before anyone imagined what came next — Variety's report from the room caught the whole glittering scene.
Why Suzanne mattered
Most people met her as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, and later on Step by Step. But the woman I got to know had already turned the page on Hollywood. She wrote more than twenty-five books, and with Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones — published that very same month — she put a subject the culture refused to discuss on the front table of every bookstore in America.
She took enormous heat for it. She kept going. Long before "longevity" became a category, Suzanne was asking the question that defines the whole field: why do we accept decline as inevitable? She was, in the truest sense, the original longevity thought leader. Everything the rest of us do now stands on ground she cleared.
Suzanne passed away on October 15, 2023, one day short of her 77th birthday. Standing next to her, at her side that night, is her husband Alan Hamel — the television host and producer who was her partner in life and in business for more than fifty years, and who built her wellness brand with her. Their marriage was its own kind of proof that a long life well lived is a shared project.
What she opened up for me
Because of Suzanne, I started asking about hormones — and that led me to the Santa Monica hormone specialist whose work shaped my own protocol for years, and the protocols of friends and clients including Steve Harvey. He has since retired, but the door he opened stayed open.
Today, at fifty-five, hormone optimization is not a side note for me — it's foundational to the muscular-repair pillar of the MORE TIME PROTOCOL®. After forty, testing and thoughtful, physician-supervised hormone care is one of the highest-leverage moves available.
What's coming next
Which brings me to something I'm genuinely excited about. Here in San Diego — out by Otay Lakes in Eastlake — I've begun a conversation with Dr. Melinda Silva, MD and her team, who have spent years doing exceptional work in bioidentical hormone replacement, comprehensive lab testing, and anti-aging medicine for both women and men.
We're exploring a collaboration: a hormone and longevity care experience I could bring my community into, alongside conversations with her on my podcast. Nothing is announced yet, and I want to be careful not to overpromise — we're still designing what it should look like, including how testing and packages would work. But I'll say this plainly: she is the person I trust with this now, and if it comes together, you'll hear it here first.
All of it traces back to one woman with the nerve to ask an unpopular question out loud. Thank you, Suzanne. I'm honored to keep walking the road you opened.
Photo: Jorge Cruise with Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel at the 2006 Quill Awards, American Museum of Natural History, New York — Patrick McMullan / Getty Images.