Finding Sunshine After Rain

SHE BECAME A SOAP LEGEND PLAYING SCHEMING ERICA KANE ON ALL MY CHILDREN. NOW, AFTER LOSING HER HUSBAND OF 52 YEARS, THE ACTRESS OPENS UP ABOUT GRIEF AND RESILIENCE

- JEREMY HELLIGAR,VICTORIA WILL

Counting Her Blessings "Being given life is a gift from God, and I will not thumb my nose at that gift," says Lucci (in New York City on Jan. 15).

Over the course of more than 40 years, iconic All My Children character Erica Kane perfected the art of perseverance. She lived through at least 11 weddings (to eight men), survived a doppelgänger who kidnapped her and stole her life, and even scared off a threatening grizzly bear by bellowing, “I am Erica Kane, and you are a filthy beast!” But one thing the queen of Pine Valley, Pa., never had to endure was the death of a legal spouse—unlike the actress who portrayed her: Susan Lucci, whose husband of 52 years, Helmut Huber, died in 2022 at age 84, one month after suffering a stroke.

1. "I miss him. I miss his presence. I miss sharing things together," Lucci says of Huber (at the 1984 Daytime Emmys). 2. Lucci and Huber (on their 1969 wedding day) got married less than a year into their romance. 3. In her book Lucci describes Huber (in a 2016 Instagram) as "so confident, so unafraid, so decisive." 4. Huber (at the 2006 Daytime Emmys) "lit up every room he was in," Lucci writes.

“The minute I fell in love like I did with my husband, I knew how vulnerable I was,” says Lucci, 79, who played Erica from AMC’s very first episode in 1970 until its cancellation in 2011. She and the Austrian-born TV producer wed when she was 22 after dating for just eight months. When he died, “I was completely lost,” she says. “And it’s so isolating. You feel so alone, even though I had the most wonderful friends.… I am so grateful for the people who stood by me.”