Latest / I Choose Me with Jennie Garth / I Choose…To Search For Myself with Susan Lucci

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I Choose…To Search For Myself with Susan Lucci · I Choose Me with Jennie Garth

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Hi everyone,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: welcome to I Choose Me. This podcast, as you know,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: is all about the choices we make throughout our lives.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Today's conversation is one that really stayed with me long
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: after we stopped recording. Susan Lucci opens her heart in
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: such an honest, courageous way, from the sudden end of
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: her four decade run on All My Children as Erica Kane,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to some really personal, profound losses and the choices she
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: made to rebuild herself and her family. We talk about
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the mentors who have shaped Susan and aging with love
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: instead of fear. She teaches us that time truly can heal.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Please please welcome the incredible Susan Lucci. I've always been
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: so a fan of yours. I just have to admit
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: that you are an icon. How do you feel about that?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: How do you feel about me saying that? I've sure
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you've heard it many times now, you.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Know, every time I hear it inside, I say, really,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: really yeah, I've always spent as a very big compliment.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: And I know it's a compliment, and I thank you
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: for saying it, but yes, in my inside voice is going.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Really, I love that honesty because that's how I feel too.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: When people compliment me or say things, I honestly am like,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: oh wow, okay, but that's so I's so honest.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I love it.
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  Speaker 1: You and I are both long time spokespeople for the
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  Speaker 1: American Heart Association. That's why I'm read for you today, Susan.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: That's lovely.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, I love all the work that you've done. You
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: survived a near fatal blocked artery in twenty eighteen and
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: then another cardiac situation in twenty nineteen. So did your
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: work with the American Heart Association sort of take a
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: shift whence that happened and it became just so much
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: more important and deeply personal for you?
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: I'm sure. Yes.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I felt after my first term event where I learned
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: quite suddenly that I had a ninety percent blockage in
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: my main artery and a seventy five percent blockage in
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: my adjacent adjacent artery. At the time it was happening,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I knew what was happening kind of because I had
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: heard an interview many years before from a woman, and
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I had no health issues. I had no reason to
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: remember this. I mean, years ago, I was still living
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: at home. I was probably just out of college, watching
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: TV with my dad, and a woman talked about the
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: differences between the symptoms that women have for heart attacks
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: than men. So I remembered that, so I recognized what
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: was happening is what she was telling the world about
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: when she did her interview.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: In any case, I had that I did not feel pain.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I just felt that pressure on my chest radiating around
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: my ribcage to my back. I did go to the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: ear at the hospital that my husband's cardiologist met me.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: He had been my husband's doctor. I had no reason
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: to have such a doctor. In any case, I went
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to him, and that's when he discovered that by going
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I was avoiding.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: The widow maker.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: The widow maker, Yes, had I been home, they told me,
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  Speaker 2: I would have just I know that if I had
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: been home, I would have just laid thought, I need
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: to lay down for a few minutes, have some water,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: and I'll be fine.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: And that kind of.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Inner voice, and the kind of inner voice that told
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: me I have too much to do today. This can't
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: be happening. This is my day off. I have no
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: time for this. And the inner voice that was telling me, oh,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I can't bother this spectacular doctor.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: He has patients who really need him. I can't bother him.
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  Speaker 1: You're so nice, well.
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  Speaker 2: You know, never having a health issue. I just couldn't
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: believe believe it. And it wasn't denial. I just didn't
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: take it as seriously as I definitely should have. When
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I found out the results, I was so grateful that
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: I had been there that he took the phone call,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: and in any case, I he took me up.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: To ther that night.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: It got to be kind of late and he said,
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  Speaker 2: I can fix this. I can take you up to
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: surgery now. And then it was like nine or ten
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: o'clock at night, and he said, or you can come
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: back and be first up in the morning at six thirty.
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  Speaker 2: And I said, well, don't you think I should be
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: first up in the morning at six thirty. Your A
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: team will be in. They'll be all fresh and ready
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: to go. He said, My A team is already on
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  Speaker 2: their way. I said, well, shouldn't I go home and
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  Speaker 2: get a good night sleep in my own bed and
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  Speaker 2: come back and I'll be ready. He said, I don't
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  Speaker 2: think you quite understand what's going on here. You could
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  Speaker 2: have a heart attack at any time. So it's really
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  Speaker 2: good that you came in and now we're going to
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  Speaker 2: fix it. So he took me upstairs and did the procedure.
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  Speaker 3: I had two.
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  Speaker 2: Stents put in. I was just discharged the next day
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  Speaker 2: before noon.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: My husband came to pick me up, and in the
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: car on the way home, I said, Honey, I had
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  Speaker 2: so much good luck today. I have got to pass
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  Speaker 2: this on, Jenny. I'm telling you.
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  Speaker 3: I was like.
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  Speaker 2: Magnetized to pick up the phone and get my story
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  Speaker 2: out there. And I called my publicist, Jessica Scotchitano, and
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  Speaker 2: I asked her, was there somewhere. I was still in
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: the car on the way home. I could not not
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: pass it forward. It was I couldn't pass the specifics forward,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: but I could pass the takeaways. And I asked Jessica
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: if she could help me get my story out in
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  Speaker 2: modern times, the way that woman's interview helped me from
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: so long ago. And she was not a celebrity, and
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  Speaker 2: I had no health issues, never had reason to remember,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: but it made an impression. I put it back here,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: so I did get to tell my story and tell
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: the takeaways in the hopes that even one woman would
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  Speaker 2: hear it and save her life. The takeaways and I
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: write about this in my book just so it's there
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: for easy accessibility if somebody wants to know what my
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: particular takeaways were that can help them. And the number
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  Speaker 2: one thing for women that I took away was to
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  Speaker 2: put yourself on your to do list. I think so
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: many times as women, we are taking care of our children.
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  Speaker 2: My mother said that to me, which you take your
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: children as the pediatrician, you go right away.
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  Speaker 3: I'm your mother.
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  Speaker 2: You need to go to the doctor and take care
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  Speaker 2: of this. So put yourself on your to do list.
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  Speaker 1: Speak up.
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  Speaker 2: If your body is not performing in a way that
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  Speaker 2: is normal for you, take action. Call the doctor. And
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  Speaker 2: number three, don't be afraid that you are disturbing a
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  Speaker 2: good doctor. Don't be afraid that you are wasting his
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  Speaker 2: time or he will think that you are a foolish
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  Speaker 2: Talk to him.
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  Speaker 3: Tell him.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, he'll be only too happy to send you home
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: or to put stents, do whatever is necessary. Right If
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong, he'll tell you that too, And won't
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: that be a relief.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: I have to tell you that as a woman who
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: knows a lot about heart disease, as I've worked, oh
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: for a long time, I would still my instinct would be, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be fine, I'll just you know, lay down for
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a minute and everything will be fine. But and also
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: there's that like, if I do go into the emergency
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  Speaker 1: room or whatever, it's going to be embarrassing when they say, oh,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: it's just gas or it's just you know, all the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: things that they might tell me what it is. But
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  Speaker 1: I do now believe that it's so important to choose
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  Speaker 1: yourself and take care of yourself first and foremost, even
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  Speaker 1: when you're just feeling a little off, because we have
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  Speaker 1: to listen to our bodies. You're exactly right. And having
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: just read your book and being reminded or being actually
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: educated to your story and how that happened for you
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  Speaker 1: in real time was so eye opening for me. It
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: was a beautiful reminder and it was just a great
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  Speaker 1: example of how this could happen to someone that had,
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  Speaker 1: you know, no health issues. It just came out of nowhere.
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  Speaker 1: But you then found out that it was in your DNA,
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  Speaker 1: it was in your genetic makeup from your family.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, from my dad's side of the family, and my
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: otherwise fabulous dad had heart attack because of.
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  Speaker 3: His calcium build up.
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  Speaker 2: I think most of us tend to gravitate towards the
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  Speaker 2: family history on our same sex parent, so that I
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  Speaker 2: only thought of my mother's side, and there was my dad.
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  Speaker 1: Well, thank goodness you had that knowledge. So I'm just
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  Speaker 1: so happy that you're good, you're.
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  Speaker 3: Thriving, and you too, Jenny.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I know it's a scary thing to think about.
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  Speaker 1: You know, our hearts and it's so important, it's vital
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  Speaker 1: to our next breath, but we don't really spend a
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  Speaker 1: lot of time appreciating all the work that it's doing
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  Speaker 1: every day. So it's it's a lovely reminder for not
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: just me, but for all of our listeners to live
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  Speaker 1: by your example.
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  Speaker 2: Well and yours, and guess thank you. This is even
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  Speaker 2: the name of your podcast tells a lot of the story.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, It gives women permission, absolutely, and we need to
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  Speaker 1: be reminded of that. I think. So. All My Children
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  Speaker 1: premiered fifty six years ago.
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  Speaker 3: Isn't that long ago?
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Yeah, that seems like a crazy amount
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  Speaker 1: of time. And you were on the show for four
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  Speaker 1: decades playing the unimaginably incredible Erica Kane. You really were
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: just the biggest star in daytime and it ended so
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: abruptly because I just read your book, so I know
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: so much about you, which I am so happy to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: but it ended so abruptly. I was wondering what that
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: that grief process was like for you, because it was
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: such a shock. You called it a divorce.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Like a nasty divorce. Yeah.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, How did you eventually reclaim your power and kind
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: of step back into your power after that sort of jolt.
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  Speaker 2: That process of grieving. And there was a process of grieving.
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  Speaker 2: There was denial, there was all of it. But there
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: was anger in that grieving which I don't have now,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and I never experienced that kind of anger because if
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: we really were all blindsided, we had been told if
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: we moved to the show to la and that involved
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: a lot, that involved a brooting of people's lives, not
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: everybody could do it. Not everybody was clearly invited to
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: join the crew, was invited to apply for the job,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: move across country there to apply for the job, yes,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and children in school and and all that goes with
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: living somewhere and then to go be uprooted and then
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: not being guaranteed that you would even be employed.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And that.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Was that was pretty abrupt and then to have the
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: abruptness of the show being canceled when there was no
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: indication the ratings.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Had gone down, really for the first time in many years.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: But the writing was different at that time, and the
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: audience is very smart, and the audience, you know, would
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: would write and all of us as actors, after rehearsal
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: in the morning, would say to each other, are you
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: having trouble with this? You know the material, and everybody
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: hung on and cared so much about their work and
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: made it happen. But the audience needs a good story,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: and good storytelling with a respect for the history of
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: the characters and their relationships. And in any case, I
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: had just been on the book tour for my first book,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and I had been all around the country and been
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: witnessing the same kind of passion from the.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Viewers that I always had.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: It was really there, and so I was able to
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: go back to the studio and tell everyone, how, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: everything was wonderful out there. The reception was spectacular, and
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: and then you know, the the.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: Acts fell and we were we were canceled.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: So there was it was you know, again, something has
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: to do with your expectation. Of course, the expectation was
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: we were doing so well. The fans were there for us.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: In fact, they shut down the computer system at ABC
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: when we were canceled. Agnes had told me that she
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: called the number and they said this, and I've been
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: hearing the sear hearing about it. And then finally I
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: just wanted to learn from myself, really, how can this be?
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: And I call that number and it said, and I'm
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: paraphrasing now, but it was when there were menus when.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: You wanted to learn something, nil the phone.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: And I did, and it said, to register your displeasure
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: for the cancelation of all my children, Press one for
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: all other ABC.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's so crazy business.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Press number two. You press one, yes. And then I
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: knew it was true.
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  Speaker 2: And what I had witnessed from the fans, the viewers
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: as I went all around the country on that book
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: tour of that passion, that enthusiasm was real.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's but anyway, I.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: Was called into the producer's office that morning.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Agnes had given me a heads up call at four
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: point thirty in the morning when I went to the studio.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Indeed, what she said was true.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: I would be called into the producer's office and there
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: and the man who was the head of ABC daytime.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Just the three of us were in the office, and
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I had the opportunity to ask him then directly, you know,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: why are you doing this? And he said, he seemed
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: to be very proud of himself. He was doing this
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: because it would be forty percent less expensive to produce.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And that was that forty percent less expensive to produce? Yes, hm, Well,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that makes me think. We've had several really strong, beautiful,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: confident women that have come on of the pod and
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: shared the difficult things that they have heard from, whether
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: it was studio executives or directors or acting teachers, whatever
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: through the years that gave you that kind of criticism
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: when you were breaking into the industry or even well
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: established in the industry, How did you find the strength
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: to keep going?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Well, I must say I have been enormously lucky to
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: have wonderful teachers and wonderful surrounded by really wonderful people.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: And so maybe that's why this experience being canceled like
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: that and blindsided became awakens such an anger in me
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: because I wasn't expecting it, and I had no experience
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: with it beforehand, very little experience with it beforehand. So
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: the strength to keep going after all my children, there
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: was a grieving process.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: You know, I wondered, well, now now what will I do?
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Will I ever work again?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, as I think many of us who are who
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: are actors, you know, we think and and so.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: You know, I took.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: I was again so lucky because Mark Terry had actually
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: come to the All My Children's studio to to meet me,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: but I wasn't there that day, which was quite unusual.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: But we've met again right after the show is canceled.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: We met again and got along so well. He's so
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: charming and wonderful and smart. And then he had a
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: new show because the fans again online were asking that
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I go on Desperate Housewives, and I thought it was
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: a great idea. When we sat down with Mark, he
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: said that it was already it was the finale had
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: already been shot. Oh no, so well, the fans and
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: we all love the idea, it was just too late.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: But he had a new show in mind called Devious Maids,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: and he thought there'd be a great part in there
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: for me, and it turned out to be there was
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: So I was very lucky.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Oh so lucky, And that kind of that momentum just
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: kept going for you. Yes, yeah, that really helps take
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the sting off of the cancelation for sure. Yes, And
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: ultimately it probably opened up your world. And you know,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: two different categories doing starring in a nighttime show. What
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: was the difference for you between doing nighttime television and
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: daytime television.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Well, shooting on film, which is how we shot Devious Maids,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: is very different than shooting on video.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Sure you know all this, Jenny.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Shooting on video with all my children, there were three
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: sometimes five cameras working all at once, and so they
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: were getting the shots and they were moving with each
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: of us. In shooting on film, and we would do
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: the scene once for the money, so to speak. There
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: wasn't the amount of editing and so on in film
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: as I know. You know, we shoot with one camera
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: and you do the same scene more than once because
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: you do it in different sizes, from different points of
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: view and so on. But also there's more time for
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: rehearsal for the discovery part of the scene and the
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: relationship with your acting partner, and that's part of the
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: fun and that was always the part that was missing.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: And all my children as actors, we were always trying
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: to squeeze in a rehearsal of some kind. In between,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: we'd be in the hair and makeup room and the
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: hair dryers are going and Jill Larson, who played Opal,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: would be across the way and.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: We were like, okay, can we run lines? Can we?
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: And you know you're trying to run the scene that way,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: But with devious mains and with film, it was it
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: was really an extra great.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Pleasure to have the time to rehearse and discover.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I love that and it is such a different it's
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: such a different skill set than daytime. I mean, people
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: know by now how difficult it is for daytime actors
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: and the rate of speed of which you shoot things,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the amount of pages you have to learn every day,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: and then going to kind of a slower pace of
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: that single camera world must have been kind of nice
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: if I think that through.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, it was. It was a treasure, It really was.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: The amount of material done, the content, the amount of
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: the content on film is much less because of shooting
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: with one camera at a time, so there's that too,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: much less memorizing content, you know, volume of content to
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: memorize every night.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I know that you have mentors and that you have
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: women that you've looked up to along your journey. What
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: would you say was something that you remember from a
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: mentor of yours that really got you through any difficult
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: times in your career.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I would say more by observation, more by observation than
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: direct messages. And I think in general that's how people
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: learn more than anything. You know.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, they say on the job training is the best thing. Yes,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I believe that too. Even in acting, I had wonderful teachers,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: certainly you know in acting class and so on, but
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: also for real life mentoring, it was really much more observing,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: observing having the wonderful opportunity to be to be near
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: people like Agnes Nixon. And even when we very first.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Began on All My Children, and it lasted for several years,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: we used to rehearse the show in order. So we
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: did run through, we did a dress rehearsal, we did
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: everything in order, and then we would go to shoot
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: the show.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: So we did that. But in between the scenes, Erica
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: was a very busy character.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: So I almost could never leave this studio floor, and
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I would stay on the set. And so I had
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: also the opportunity to listen to some of the more
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: experienced actresses like Ruth Warwick who had been at the
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Mercury Theater and a part of Hollywood glamor at his height,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: and Mary Fickett and Frau Heflin, of course, who played
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: my mother Mona on All My Children. I had the
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: opportunity to listen to them trade stories. I Lean Hurly,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: who had worked with Oh My Goodness, had played Laurence
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Olivier's Gertrude the Mother even though she wasn't old enough,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: but she was a character actress. To listen to them
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: all trade stories and to learn from what I was hearing,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: and to listen to Ruth Warick talk about how every
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: woman should have a little boy in her life who
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: is three or four years old because they just are
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: the best and things, and advice on relationships with men,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: even though she had been married a number of times.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: It was just so wonderful.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: To have the opportunity to sit and listen to these
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: experienced women and actresses was wonderful.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I feel like that's the best thing for me that
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: came later in life at fifty. After fifty, but I
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: feel like this is such a gift to be able
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to surround yourself with other women who have experienced all
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the things and share their stories. That's how we learn,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that's how we grow, and that's how we inspire people. Yes,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: so that's such an important thing. I really enjoyed reading
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: your new book, Laluci.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: It is very moving. I found myself crying alone in
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: my bed last night.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, thank you.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: So I was very moved absolutely by your book. You
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: so beautifully and honestly express your profound loss that you've
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: incurred in your life with your husband, your mother, a pregnancy.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: How did how would you say that grief has changed
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the way you listen to yourself and your needs.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Well, you're right saying it was profound loss, and I
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: think I think that as human beings we do experience
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: that in life.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: It is part of life.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Certainly, certainly became more vulnerable, to say the least. I
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: had to dig very deeply and did to be able
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: to go forward at all after the loss of my husband,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: and I write about that in the book.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: That's the part that got me, just the way you
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: so beautifully shared the play by play of that experience.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And not to mention your miscarriage, but you know, even
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: the death of your mom really resounded with me because
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I'm a caregiver for my mom who's in her eighties. Oh,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: so there were so many different levels that I could
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I was really moved. But I just want to say
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: thank you for sharing such intimacy with us, the readers.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: It's not often that you feel so moved when you
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: read a book like that. And you know, yeah, I
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: knew that I was reading reading Susan Lucci's book, but
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I didn't know I was getting to know the real
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Susan Lucci and all the things that he had endured.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: And I really enjoyed it.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: So thank you, Thank you very much. I'm so happy
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: to hear you say that.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: And at the same time, yeah, I was so happy
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: to be able to talk about Helmet himself. You know,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I've been interviewed many, many times, but it was an
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: opportunity for me to to talk about to let people
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: know who.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: It was I was grieving for and.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: With my mom, to talk about our relationship, to talk
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: about my dreams when I was beginning the terrible encounter
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: when I was twelve years old on the school bus.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: These are all things that are part of our shared humanity.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: And I just think by telling I thought by telling
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: these things people reading. We're all human beings and it
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: connects us and somehow then I was hoping people won't
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: feel so alone in some of their very profound experiences
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: in their lives.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, the way you describe your relationship with your
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: husband with Helmet, I was in awe.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: Of you two.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: It was like a couple goals, you know, beautiful relationship, longstanding,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and the way you spoke of him so beautifully was
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: just really nice. And it reminded me to be grateful
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: for what I have in my life, you know, to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: not take things for granted. It really made me stop
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and think about things in a different way than than
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I probably was in the state of mind of thinking
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: of them, because I take things for granted. You know,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: we take our relationships for granted, we take our opportunities
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: that we're even for granted, all that we you know,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: all that we have. So it was a nice chance
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: to kind of just slow down and through your experience
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: relate that to my own. You said that you have
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: a strong faith, which is very admirable. Everybody has faith
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: in their own way. Yes, everyone is different, everyone is different,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: but that the the meaning of you know, the just
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the importance I guess of faith is so that you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: don't feel alone, so that you feel like you were,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you have support around you. And how I was curious,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: how did your faith evolve after such an unimaginable loss,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Like what does your your choosing of faith look like
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: for you now? And how does it help you?
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know where I'd be without my faith, And
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: that took me by surprise.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was not angry at God. I was.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: So grateful to have had this love in my life,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: so grateful and I say in the book that he
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: created Helmet Huber and put him in my life, and
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: so grateful for so much. I feel so blessed and
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: so gratitude. I think was how it started to evolve.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: I am so grateful that I had my husband had
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: a stroke, that I had a month of thirty days
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: with him while he was in the hospital fighting for
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: his life. But I could be there with him and
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: in all that that involved and entailed and became. But
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I knew that I was so lucky to have that
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: time with him, that I didn't get a call and
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: my heart goes out to a woman or a man
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: who gets a call that there's spouse dropped dead.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: On a city street read or whatever that would be sudden.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: So I was grateful for that. One of the songs,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: pieces of music that I asked to have played at
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Helmet's funeral services and had I had to really ask
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: firmly for it, was to have.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: This song the prayer.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: I think of the Butcelli recording of that, Andrea Butelli
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: recording of that, and there are lyrics in that song
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: lead us to your grace that I think those words
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: so often, Yes, lead me to your grace and guide
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: me because I know that this gift of life is
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: a gift. And I will never thought my nose at
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: that sad as I am as what happened that you know,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: I lost Helmet, not another and my.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: Brother and so on, But I am alive.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: God has given me this gift and I want to
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: I want to make him proud. I want to do
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: the best I can with this gift and enjoy life.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: My mother would say, God wants you to be happy,
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: and so I want to be.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to be
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: free of suffering. And I think when you think about
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: humanity as a whole, and even though we're so divided
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and there's so much arguing and ugliness out there right now,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: remembering that we all have the same goal for happiness, yes,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: and just seeing that in other people. So often we
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: don't even think that when we look at other people
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: about what they want or what they've endured.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: But no, no, and my goodness, there are people around
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: the world who are enduring loss and unspeakable things, and
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: I know that I know that very well. The thing too,
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: that I would hear from from the lovely people who
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: would respond on some of my Instagram posts. You know,
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: when it's just you going along, you just think it's
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: nothing big deal. You know, it's just you and your
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: life and your relationship. But people would comment on it
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: was a goal for them to have a relationship with
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: the man they loved or whoever they loved. That they
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: could see it gave them hope for them to see
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: the relationship that you know, my husband and I had.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: I didn't even know anyone was watching, you say, or
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: looking or caring, but they related it to themselves, and
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: that's hopeful in a world that it's so so a
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: lot of stuff.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Going on, it is it's a good thing to know
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: that that love exists. It really does. It's not just
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: a concept, and it's not just me, you know.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's everyone. Yeah, there's something comforting in that for sure.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I've read in your book that you sort of tried
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: to climb out of your agony by redecorating, renovating your
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: family home instead of moving after the loss of your husband,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: which would feel like the you know is sinctually I
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: would want to move, but you decided to stay, and
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: you decided to honor the home that you brought your
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: son from the hospital too. How did that sort of
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: rebuilding of your physical space affect you emotionally in.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: A positive way?
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: I think has affected me in a positive way in
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: a couple of ways. First of all, I knew that
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: once that I had to my son and his family
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: moved to Miami, I knew there was even more reason
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: for me to keep this as home base home, because
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: that's what they thought of his home, and even his
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: two little ones loved to come to my home, and
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: we already had a little history together with the little
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: children here in this home.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: All the more reason. But I knew for me to stay.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: How many is to say to me if anything ever
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: happens to you, I won't be able to stay in
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: this house, and I thought that would probably be me too.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: But instead I didn't feel that way. I just knew
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: that I had to I had to do a couple things.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: First of all, there were certain renovations that we had
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: talked about and didn't get to and I wanted to
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: do those.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: And then I also knew that I wanted to make.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: The house happy, happy colors happy as I am now
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: to be. That would feed me and make me feel
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: good about coming into the house. And I'm very happy
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: with the outcome.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: But I'm also really happy that I found that I
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: could do it.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: I called the contractor we had worked with before. He's spectacular.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: His crew is spectacular. I didn't think The renovation and
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: the decorating took about a year and a half. I
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: will tell you that I did not want I didn't
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: want it to end. I didn't want that crew to leave.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: They were here six days a week. They were spectacular
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: and so good at what they do and treated my
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: home with as if it was their own home. And
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: they would come in the morning, they would leave at night, and.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: They would leave the house spotless.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: They would vacuum on their way out, I mean they
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: were calator, yes, and they were so good at what
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: they did and what they do. There's skilled professionals, but
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: there also artists.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much about their work.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but yeah, but you did it that knowing that, look,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: I can move.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: Forward exactly that I can.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: I certainly had never done the construction project by myself
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: without my husband, and so yes, that that.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Was very positive for me to know that I could
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: And the day to day things, you know, we divide
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: up the workload, you know as couples, and so I
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: found myself, you know, doing the things that were relegated
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: to my husband, you know, making sure the car was
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: running properly and.
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: All of those things. And yes, I could do it,
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: and yes I can do these things. Yes, it feels so.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Sort of igniting within when you start really depending on
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: just yourself.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: Yes, I would rather not have to, but here we are.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: You know, this is what's happening. So you stepped up
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: to the plate. And that's just a sign of your
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: beautiful strength from all of your experience. You know, it's
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: not easy what you have overcome, and no or.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: What anyone overcomes in that position.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: I will tell you that I knew that I had
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: always been a happy person and I always did have resilience.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: I thought it was all gone. I thought it would
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: never come back. I was in search of it. I
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: met someone who told me, you know, that she made choices.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: I didn't even think I had a choice. The only
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: thing I would hope for is that Helmut would come
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: walking back through the door. And of course that wasn't
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: going to happen.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: But little by little, little by little.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: I was in search of my self that I used
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: to be, that I knew I had in me. So
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: that was a choice too, not to give up on it,
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: not to say, oh, no, it really is all gone. No,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: that's how I felt at the time, But I needed
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: to try hard to reclaim it, and I have been
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: able to and that makes me happy.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: I think as women, as we get older, we all
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: kind of face that that recognition of how strong we
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: are and all the things that we have endured and
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: how much we have accomplished. And there's something so sort
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: of it ignites your soul to sort of look back,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: and it kind of propels you forward in a very intentional.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: Way, and that, oh, that's so well said.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, you have to go through loss to get to
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: that sometimes most times, honestly, but we get to it.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: So knowing that Susan Luci could do it is going
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: to be very helpful and motivational for so many women
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: out there.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, You talk about aging lovingly. What does that
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: mean to you?
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, audaciously, not gracefully like that expression.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: I love it that You're like, I'm not going down
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: without a fight. That's me.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: No, I'm going to do everything I can to look
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: my best, to have to honestly be my best. Keep
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: those doctors appointments, keep those those checkups, take care of everything,
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: go to the dentist and get your hair done too,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: all of those things.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: It all, it's all part of it. It's all part
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: of how we see ourselves. And then that really does
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: kind of affect how we walk around in the world.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: So it does.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: It's really easy in that kind of loss and that
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: kind of grief that we lose ourselves in that so
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: easily and stop taking care of ourselves.
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: Yes, and I think some of that is normal.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: As I said earlier, everyone is different and everyone's grief
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: is different, and judent I would say for anyone not
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: to put any kind of time, schedule, time frame, way
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: of behaving, way of thinking, way of speaking.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: Right, you are just an.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Individual going through this as a human being, and whatever
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: is your journey is your journey. Not to take oh
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: I have to feel this way today, or this is
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: the step I'm in now. No, just I think it's
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: I think it's fine too, and maybe even important to
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: take that time, that grieving time.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, allow it, Allow it, because if you don't allow it,
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: it's going to rear its head anyway.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Yep, It's going to sneak up on you in different
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: ways exactly.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: So much better to allow it at your own pace
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: and go from there and know that you can come
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: out the other side.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: You can. You can make choices.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: Even as I thought I didn't have any choices to make,
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: but you can, and you do have those choices to
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: make to be happy, not to not to stay.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: Actively grieving all the time. You have a life to live.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: You've been given a great life, you know, Jenny.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Also, I think that you know when you read, when
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: you read someone else's story, I think there is a
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: certain level of reading that you also are filling in
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: the blanks with your own story or the people in
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: your life who might fit whatever you're reading about. And
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking that that's what will happen with my book too,
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: that by telling very specific details of what I've gone through,
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: the reader is smart enough.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: I did not set out to write a self help book.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: I am not qualified, but I do think that by
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: telling my story, it connects us to each other, and
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: the audience is very smart and smart enough to gather
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: what they will from reading and for their own they
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: will fill in their own specifics in the blanks.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's so beautiful because it just reminds us that
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: we're not alone. We're not the only person experiencing these
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: things exactly. You have a funny quote in the book
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Bok though all work and no play makes Susan a cranky,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: over caffeinated woman who deserves a vacation and a glassy
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: champagne immediately. This is from a whole chapter that you
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: write about the importance of play. Is it important to
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: play for you even as grown ups and keep that
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: fun spirit?
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: And how do we do that? How did you do that?
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, so some of it must certainly be just a band,
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: a certain you know, personality bent. But also I feel
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: so lucky and I say this in.
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: The book, to be in a profession that encourages play.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: Right, it's what we do, It's what we're very lucky.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: We are very lucky, and to carry some of that
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: with us. You know, there's a time and a place,
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: and you can make the time and the place too,
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: And don't forget to make time and a place to
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: you know, to play, to dance, to sing, to be
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: with friends and laugh, to travel, if that's.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: What you want to do to I don't know, giggle
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: you have a good time.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Those all beckon back to the power of choice. We
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: have the power to choose day to day how we
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: want our life to feel.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: And I love that you said day to day. I
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: do believe taking it one day at a time. And
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: if you're having a good time today and you make
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: a plan to look forward to maybe next week, you
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: can definitely keep playing alive in your life.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, speaking of playing, I'm wondering what are you dating?
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Are you? Are you ever? What's going to happen?
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: Are you?
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Do you think does your daughter want you today? How
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: do you feel about that idea?
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm at a place where we'll just have
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: to see you know, well, what happens.
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: I have not met anyone, and I'm not dating, per se.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: I have friends, and that's great. I don't think we
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: are meant to be alone. I think life is set
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: up that it's it's certainly much more fun to share, yeah,
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: good life with someone that you care about. So you know,
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: we'll see I heard the expression recently hopeful romantic. I
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: say in the book. I am a romantic for sure,
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: and I guess a hopeful romantic. Not at the place
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: where I can actually, you know, name a name or
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: see a person. But we'll see what happens.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: I love that. I love that mindset. It's very healthy.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Oh good, it's yeah, I'm excited for your future. I
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what's
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: going to happen, thank you. That's the exciting part of
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: it all. But I do know your book Lalucci is
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: out now. It's available everybody listening, wherever you buy your books.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: And I just really enjoyed this conversation. But before I
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: let you go, Susan Lucci, what was your last I
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: choose me moment?
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: You know, on different levels, I mean certainly of great facial,
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: great manicure, whatever.
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, but those are just scheduled in.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: But something that is doing my workout every morning, my
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: ploates workout. Actually, I'm augmenting it right now. This morning,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: I've added weights. I'm adding weights, I'm eating more protein
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: because it's also because pilates is spectacular in many ways
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: for stretching, for core strength and so on.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: But in the vein of strength, I've added some weights and.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: It takes maybe a few more minutes to incorporate all
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: of that, but I am doing that.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: I'm choosing me in that respect.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Did you work out with an instructor or?
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: No? I did.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: I started pilates in my forties. I wish I had
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: started earlier because it's that mind body spirit connection that
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: is true. It's not just some new age kind of thinking.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: You really do get very in touch with your your
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: mind and your body, and the spirit rises because you
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: feel so good. It has that side effect and helps
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: you to manage any kind of stress much better, I think,
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: And so so that's that's it.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Great advice. What an honor of this conversation has been.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me, Susan Luci.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and continue success with your clothing line.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you QVC's sister.
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: Yes, you do such a great job.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: You're so welcome.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: Thank you, of course. Thank you so much, Jenny. I've
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: loved talking to you.