Susan Lucci Reveals How She Survived ‘Crippling’ Grief After Losing Husband: ‘Worth Taking a Chance’ (Exclusive)

With the new memoir, La Lucci, on sale Tuesday, the Daytime Emmy-winner and heart-health warrior who made All My Children’s Erica Kane a household name sits down for an intimate conversation about rejecting labels, embracing love and surviving grief.

When Susan Lucci released her bestseller All My Life in 2011, she got one thing wrong. “That was indeed not all my life,” she tells Woman’s World as our cover girl (Get your copy here!). “A lot has happened over the last 15 years!” 

Having fought her way back onto her feet after losing her husband of over 50 years, Susan is now set to appear in Jonah Hill’s upcoming Apple TV+ comedy, Outcome, dancing through Grandma duties—and yes, at 79 years young, happy to slip back into Erica’s stilettos if an All My Children reboot materializes! 

But would this soap opera icon ever bring Erica to General Hospital?

Listen to your heart

Had Susan Lucci ignored the elephant sitting on her chest in 2018 or her jaw pain in 2022, she might not be here to share those stories and more in her new memoir, La Lucci.

“I had a near brush with a widow-maker,” she says. “My mom lived to be 104, and I thought I had my mother’s genes. But I wound up with a 90% blockage in a major artery and a 75% blockage in the adjacent artery. It wasn’t cholesterol—it turned out to be calcium, and I inherited that from my dad.”

 Known for her healthy lifestyle, Susan admits she initially resisted going to the ER both times she experienced symptoms. Thankfully, she didn’t ignore them.  

“Since then, I’ve been talking about my heart scares and encouraging women to listen to their bodies, and put themselves on their to-do lists—which we never do,” she says. “I tell them what my symptoms were and how women’s heart attack symptoms are sometimes different from men’s. Luckily, I’d heard about that many, many years before, so I always say I had an angel on each shoulder.” 

Symptoms of a heart attack in women

Having dedicated two chapters of her new memoir to sharing her heart journey and all she’s learned, Susan received the 2025 Voice of the Mission Award from the American Heart Association (AHA).

The organization lists the following as some of the heart attack symptoms women should look out for:

• Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It may last more than a few minutes or go away and come back.
• Pain or discomfort in the:
  • Arms (one or both)
  • Back
  • Neck
  • Jaw
  • Stomach
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs, including:
  • Breaking out in a cold sweat
  • Nausea
  • Lightheadedness

Don’t hold back on love—even if the loss could be ‘crippling’

While her heart incidents spurred her to action, Susan reveals the heartbreak of losing her husband of over 50 years, Helmut Huber, in 2022, “was crippling.”

“I felt like half a person and thought I’d never step onstage or in front of a camera again,” she confesses. “Grief knows no roadmap, but I met people I learned from, and it became a choice: I didn’t want to spend the rest of this gift of life on the floor, in a puddle.”

Now back on her feet, Susan stepped out of her comfort zone last year in Joy Behar’s off-Broadway production of My First Ex-Husband and for Jonah Hill’s upcoming Apple TV+ comedy, Outcome.

“Women sometimes say to me, ‘I can’t even imagine what it will be like to lose my husband,’” Susan shares. “I reply, ‘Don’t think about it until you have to.’

“When I fell in love with Helmut in 1968, it made me feel incredibly vulnerable,” she concedes. “I hated that feeling because I knew someday, if there was a loss, that vulnerability would be on steroids. I knew it would be horrendous, and I was right. Yet I still think it’s worth taking every chance, because I wouldn’t give up a moment of that love. I was very lucky.”

Age audaciously—‘We have to forget labels and be ourselves’

As she eyes the big 8-0 this December, Susan’s proud to have proven wrong one misconception about aging: “That it’s all over when you hit a certain age as a woman—because it’s absolutely not!” she cries. “I’ve never liked the idea of aging gracefully. I always thought I’m going kicking and screaming. I try to live my best life and not give up because I’m a certain age.”

“But I became a grandmother and turned 60 on the same day, and the reality of those things was fantastic, but the labels hit me hard,” she recalls. “I asked my mom, ‘How did you do it?’ She said, ‘Well, honey, I just don’t think about it.’ That was so my mom, but also perfect. We have to forget labels and be ourselves.” 

Embrace your inner Erica Kane—‘I’m super proud of my candor’

In Susan’s sophomore memoir, she delves into the cancellation of All My Children—which felt like an unexpected divorce—losing her husband and mother, surviving a devastating miscarriage and embracing faith after loss.

“I share incredible experiences in my life that were good, bad and very, very challenging,” she previews. “I felt alone going through some of these things, so I hope my stories will help others feel not so alone. Maybe my difficult choices can also help others with theirs.”

In addition to offering the tools and resources that helped shape her grief journey, Susan gets more personal with readers than she ever has.

“Looking back on interviews, I was always poised, and that’s great, but I was also so reserved,” she explains. “You couldn’t see that I was dancing and thrilled and happy inside! There was a lot of Erica Kane in me, and thankfully, the audience saw my spirit in her. They didn’t see her as just a naughty b–h. They saw a woman who wanted some control over her life—and she was gonna go out and get it!

“But you couldn’t see that in me, and that disappointed me,” she continues. “I wanted to get to a place where I was more open, and I have! I’m super proud of my candor.”

Susan Lucci on long-promised All My Children reboot–‘It’s a good possibility!’

With Susan’s new memoir La Lucci on sale Tuesday, Erica Kane keeps getting mentioned on General Hospital—which leads fans to wonder if she’d ever make an appearance.

“I wouldn’t want to do a cameo…but I would certainly listen if they call,” Susan hedges. “My whole family’s on the East Coast, so I would have to see exactly what it would entail and then think hard about it.”

As for the oft-rumored All My Children reboot, almost 15 years after the show’s cancellation, Susan is crossing her fingers right alongside fans. 

“I don’t know definitely… but I’m given a lot of reason to believe it’s a good possibility it will happen,” Susan tells Woman’s World. “What I’m told is that Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos would be producing, and that, to me, is spectacular!” 

“I was in the best of hands with Agnes Nixon, and I’ve learned how important that is,” Susan concludes, referring to the Daytime Emmy-winning icon who created several soap operas. “So my return as Erica would depend on whose hands would be shaping the new version of All My Children. Who’s the writer? Who’s directing? Who’s involved? And I feel very confident that if I were in Kelly and Mark’s hands, it would be great.”