Garden City Resident Greets Fans and Signs New Memoir
With a fashionably late entrance, Garden City resident and television icon Susan Lucci appeared every bit as glamorous as her soap opera character during the opening night of her new book tour at Book Revue in Huntington last week.
In the age of Reality TV shows dominating the airwaves, La Lucci proves that good old-fashioned soap opera fans are still alive and well, with legions of admirers lining the book store’s aisles to meet the star.
The queen of daytime rapped candidly about her newly penned memoir, All My Life. The book offers an eye-opening glimpse into the star’s personal life and chronicles her childhood growing up on Long Island, her rise to fame as Erica Kane and her personal and professional highs and lows.
Since 1970, the actress has appeared on All My Children and addressed why it took her so many years to finally write about her personal life. “I grew up on Long Island and happily so,” she explained. “I have been a very private person. I was raising children along with having things go along in my career and wanted to protect their lives and have a sense of normalcy growing up.”
It was about a year ago, Lucci said, when her son came to her and said “You know mom, I think you should write a book…For one thing, the girls I date, once they know you are my mom, they want to know how did you do it?… Everybody knows Erica Kane, but nobody knows you.”
In her new book, the Garden City High School alumni reveals the inside scoop about winning her first Daytime Emmy after being nominated 19 times, her Broadway debut in Annie Get Your Gun and her stint on Season 7 of Dancing With The Stars. The book also discusses her personal relationship with her husband, Austrian businessman Helmut Huber, whom she has been married to since 1969.
“There’s a lot of moments when I would pinch myself along the way and say ‘Oh my goodness! Is this really happening?’ and also some of the more challenging times that each and every one of us goes through in our lives,” Lucci said.
In addition to receiving the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a daytime drama series, Lucci was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006 and was the recipient of the 2005 Gracie Allen Award.
