Few actresses embody grace and resilience quite like\u00a0Emmy Award\u2013winning actress Susan Lucci. Known to generations as the indelible face of daytime television\u2014and lovingly dubbed\u00a0\u201cLa Lucci\u201d\u00a0since her early days playing Erica Kane (for an impressive\u00a0<\/u>1,755 episodes) on\u00a0All My Children<\/em>\u2014the legendary star is stepping into a powerful new chapter with her second memoir,\u00a0La Lucci<\/em>, releasing this week.<\/p>\n Following her 2011\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0bestseller\u00a0All My Life<\/em>, Lucci returns with a deeply personal reflection on \u201cthe art of moving forward.\u201d Written with her signature warmth and candor,\u00a0La Lucci<\/em>\u00a0weaves together pivotal moments from her extraordinary career and personal life, offering heartfelt (and humorous) insight into embracing life\u2019s unexpected turns. In addition to offering a deep dive into the great love and great loss of her husband, the memoir also features a special fan-driven chapter,\u00a0\u201cThank You for Asking,\u201d\u00a0where Lucci answers the questions she\u2019s been asked most throughout the years. The result is an inspiring celebration of inner beauty, paired with a powerful message about finding the courage to begin again.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter my husband passed away, I was waking up in the middle of the night a lot, and things were just pouring out of me. Certainly, a lot of that was focused on the love I had for him, but there was also a process I had to go through after his passing. I felt so grateful and so lucky to have had a month of days\u2014the month of March in 2022, to be exact\u2014to be with him in the hospital. <\/p>\n At the same time, our good friend Nelson DeMille, the national treasure of a writer, who\u2019s a very good friend of ours, passed away last year as well. He was encouraging me to write another book.<\/p>\n Through Nelson, I was meeting people in his work. I was meeting publishers, and they were encouraging me, which was very flattering. I attended a dinner party during the holidays, and at the same table were two very well-known writers sitting next to me. All of a sudden, out of the blue, they leaned over and said, \u2018Susan, you know, it\u2019s really time for you to write another book.\u2019 I didn\u2019t even know they were aware of me as a writer at all.<\/p>\n Those things came together like a perfect\u2014I\u2019m not going to call it a storm\u2014but it was a perfect start of the lining, I guess. I was supposed to write another book. Nelson was encouraging me. It worked so well, the collaboration with Laura Morton, who wrote my first book with me. I wanted her to write this one with me. My first one was called All My Life<\/em>. That was 15 years ago. Certainly, the life experiences I had before that, between then and now, I realized were not all my life. I had lots that I wanted to say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t say anything was difficult. What I loved about working with Laura, collaborating with her, is that I remembered her process from writing the first book. That really helped me because she asks questions in a way that makes me open up.<\/p>\n What I was very privately happy about, and Laura noticed, is that in the ensuing 15 years, I have found a voice that is much more candid. I wanted to because I would see interviews with me. Although I answered the questions well and truthfully, and so on, I am naturally reserved. I knew, at the time I was doing those interviews, that my inside voice might be just jumping up and down, cheering and loving.<\/p>\n It was a goal of mine just for myself to reach a more candid way of speaking, being and expressing. I am at that place now. That makes me so happy and makes me really happy that Laura noticed it because it was all her meeting in person, her recording every meeting, so that she really did capture my candid voice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI really think that when we share our stories in our own personal, specific detail, it connects us to our humanity. That\u2019s what we do. We tell stories to each other. We let people in. I wanted to do that in the hopes that they won\u2019t feel so alone, because it can make you feel so alone. It can make you feel like everything is lost.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t want any teachable moments in this book. I would say that to Laura: \u2018No teachable moments!\u2019 There are no bumper stickers here. I\u2019m just going to tell my story, some of which I have never told before. The readers are smart enough. If there\u2019s something for them to take away that can make them feel less alone and more hopeful, that\u2019s what I would be after.<\/p>\n In a way, it\u2019s like reading a novel. We read a story, whether it\u2019s fiction or nonfiction. Part of us is reading it and enjoying it for what it is. Part of us is filling in our own blanks, the blanks with our own details, our own people in our lives or what we might aspire to or what we wouldn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe holy grail for me is discipline! No matter how late I come home or how really over it I am, I do it. I don\u2019t go to sleep with my makeup on. I take the time. I do the steps. All of the steps are connected. From doing Pilates, I know about the mind-body-spirit connection. It helps to take care from the outside. It also helps to take care from the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so involved with the book, and I\u2019m so happy for the interest there seems to be in it. Also, February is Heart Month. I\u2019m involved as an ambassador for the American Heart Association, particularly Go Red for Women. What I learned from having my own heart event\u2014which is what propelled me to be involved with the American Heart Association\u2014is that they gave me the opportunity to get my story out there.<\/p>\n For example, after my heart incident in 2018, the husbands of our friends would say to me, \u2018We know you, and we\u2019ve eaten with you. We know you eat salmon. You even eat kale. We know you eat blueberries\u2014but what about us? We smoke and drink scotch.\u2019<\/p>\n We always laughed, but they all went and made appointments with the cardiologist and got their testing done, too. It\u2019s very gratifying to know that I was able to get my story out there, and it seems to have helped women and men alike. I include two chapters in the book where I discuss women\u2019s symptoms being different from men\u2019s, as well as some of the heart health I have learned over time.<\/p>\n The takeaway is: number one for women, put yourself on your to-do list. We are so intent on taking care of our children, our spouses, who we love, our careers, our homes, and we are often not even on our to-do list.<\/p>\n The number two is, if your body is behaving in a way that is not normal for you, take action. We, as women, often say, \u2018Oh, it\u2019ll go away.\u2019 No, take action. It may not go away. You might go away with it if you don\u2019t pay attention.<\/p>\n The third thing is, don\u2019t be afraid to bother the doctor! These are thoughts that we, as women, have, and they can cost you your life. Just take good care of yourself. It\u2019s about self-care, and it\u2019s important. It won\u2019t be there to take care of your children and take them to a pediatrician if you don\u2019t take care of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nI\u2019d love to hear, pen to paper, how the book came to life.<\/h2>\n
![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/cdn-cjhgk.nitrocdn.com\/CXxGixRVyChwAxySbAyltuCiQXRKaWDN\/assets\/images\/optimized\/rev-9dad235\/www.newbeauty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Susan-and-Helmut-4-Photo-Credit-LA-LUCCI-Susan-Lucci-Personal-copy-735x1024.jpg\")
It sounds like the words came out of you freely. What was the most difficult step to get it to the finish line?<\/h2>\n
Grief is different for everyone. What do you hope readers facing it take away from your stories?<\/h2>\n
Thank you for sharing that. On a lighter note, you\u2019re very into wellness, and you had to wear makeup so often while filming. Is there anything that you have used consistently over the years\u2014the skin care, hair care and makeup holy grails?<\/h2>\n
![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/cdn-cjhgk.nitrocdn.com\/CXxGixRVyChwAxySbAyltuCiQXRKaWDN\/assets\/images\/optimized\/rev-9dad235\/www.newbeauty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Susan-5-Photo-Credit-LA-LUCCI-Susan-Lucci-Personal-Archive-copy-826x1024.jpg\")
I love that too. Besides the book, I know that the year is just getting started and already getting us going. Is there anything you\u2019re excited about this February?<\/h2>\n