For more than four decades, Susan Lucci was a fixture in American living rooms as the formidable and glamorous Erica Kane on ABC’s “All My Children.”
On a frigid winter morning at the Sid Jacobson JCC, Lucci offered a quieter, deeply personal portrait of herself while discussing her new memoir, “La Lucci,” during a conversation with members of the Long Island community.
The Emmy Award–winning actress appeared at the JCC ahead of the book’s official release, drawing a full audience eager to hear from the television icon whose career and life have unfolded largely in the public eye. The event was moderated by Dara Rubinstein, a JCC board member, and opened by Jodie Rosenthal, a former JCC president and co-chair of its literary arts committee.
Lucci’s new memoir, written with New York Times bestselling author Laura Morton, is the follow-up to her 2011 autobiography, “All My Life.”
In “La Lucci,” she reflects on the years between the two books, a period marked by professional reinvention, personal growth and profound loss, including the death of her husband of more than five decades, Helmut Huber, in 2022.
“I didn’t know I was writing a book at first,” Lucci said. “I would wake up in the middle of the night, and things were just pouring out of me.”
She described jotting down thoughts and memories in the early hours of the morning as a way to process grief. Those reflections eventually became the foundation for the memoir, which explores love, marriage, motherhood, resilience and the quiet rituals that help sustain life after loss.
Lucci spoke candidly about her grief, describing how writing became unexpectedly healing. She shared one of the book’s most intimate moments: the simple act of continuing to set out two coffee cups each morning, long after her husband’s death.
“It was a way of comforting myself,” she said. “There are very personal ways that we all find to move forward.”
While La Lucci delves deeply into her personal life, the conversation also revisits Lucci’s landmark television career.
She reflected on her portrayal of Erica Kane, a character she played from the show’s premiere in 1970 until its final episode in 2011. Lucci credited “All My Children” creator Agnes Nixon with pioneering socially relevant storylines that often anticipated national conversations, including narratives about eating disorders and LGBTQ+ acceptance.
Lucci said one of the most meaningful storylines for her involved Erica Kane’s daughter grappling with an eating disorder, a role that earned her a Daytime Emmy Award in 1999 after 19 previous nominations.
“Agnes was fearless,” Lucci said. “She wrote stories that people wouldn’t see in the headlines until months or years later.”
Lucci said one of the most meaningful storylines involved Erica Kane’s daughter battling an eating disorder, a plot considered groundbreaking at the time and ultimately earning Lucci her long-awaited Emmy.
Balancing fame with motherhood was another topic Lucci addressed, noting that she worked hard to keep her children’s lives as private as possible during the height of her television success.
“I was very protective,” she said. “I didn’t want my children to think everybody hated me because of a character I played.”
She credited her husband and the close-knit nature of her Long Island community for helping her maintain that balance.
“This is a place where people look out for each other,” Lucci said about living in Garden City. “The storekeepers had my back. It was a real community.”
Beyond storytelling, Lucci highlighted her advocacy for women’s heart health, inspired by her own life-threatening cardiac events in 2018 and again several years later. She credited early intervention and advances in cardiac care with saving her life and urged women to listen to their bodies and advocate for themselves.
“Women are not little men,” Lucci said, echoing a message she frequently shares through her work with the American Heart Association. “Our symptoms can be different, and we have to pay attention.”
Throughout the conversation, Lucci returned to the theme of choice, a central idea in “La Lucci.” She encouraged the audience to trust their instincts, silence negative inner dialogue and recognize that even in moments of uncertainty, options remain.
“You have choices,” she said. “Even when you don’t think you do.”
“La Lucci” includes nearly 100 previously unpublished photographs and a chapter titled “Thank You for Asking,” in which Lucci answers the questions she says fans have posed to her for decades. Published by Blackstone, the memoir will be released Feb. 3 in hardcover, e-book and audio formats.
As the event concluded, Lucci was met with sustained applause from an audience that has followed her career for generations. While her television persona was often defined by drama and ambition, her appearance at the JCC revealed a storyteller grounded in gratitude, reflection and enduring connection.
“Stories connect us,” Lucci said. “They remind us that what we go through is part of being human.”
