Alan Hamel Dating Suzanne Somers’ Former Costar Joanna Cassidy (Exclusive)

For about 18 months in 2023 and into 2024, Alan Hamel quietly mourned the loss of his wife, Suzanne Somers, but his love life has now begun to blossom again with a familiar face — one he’s sure his late wife would approve of.

The former talk show host has been dating Somers’ former costar Joanna Cassidy for several months after his son reconnected them. In his return to the dating market, Hamel, who turns 89 on June 30, is actually delivering on a promise he made to Somers in the last days of her life. 

“When it was clear that Suzanne was not going to recover in the final days of her life on this planet, before she crossed over, she said to me, ‘I don’t want you to mope around after I’m gone,’ ” he tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I actually never heard the expression ‘mope around’ before. I said, ‘So you mean I shouldn’t sit at home and feel sorry for myself?’ She said, ‘I want you to live your life. You have a great life. You have a great family. You have great friends. I want you to live your life.’ ”

Hamel’s new relationship with Cassidy, 79, is “wonderful,” the Anniversary Game host shares.

Somers died on Oct. 15, 2023, just before her 77th birthday. In 1985, Somers starred in the miniseries Hollywood Wives opposite Cassidy.

“Suzanne really liked her a lot, and Suzanne also was a great professional. So the two of them got along great,” Hamel says, adding that both women eschewed “Hollywood BS.”

And he believes the Three’s Company actress would be fully supportive of his romance with the former model and Blade Runner star.

“She’d be very happy that I’m happy. Absolutely, yeah. She wanted that,” he says of Somers. “Our relationship was based on each of us making the other one happy.”

Hamel initially met Cassidy in the ’70s when she was a guest on his The Alan Hamel Show, and they reconnected again a decade later on the set of Hollywood Wives.

“She and Suzanne spent quite a bit of time together during the production of that miniseries, and I was there a lot, almost every day, and so we reconnected and that was it, period,” he shares. 

Fast-forward to 2025, when Stephen Hamel, Alan’s son, ran into Cassidy at a film screening and struck up a conversation. 

“He mentioned to her that he thought she and his dad, that’s me, would get along,” Hamel says. “She said, ‘Who’s your dad?’ Stephen did not know that I had a relationship with her going back the ‘70s. And when he mentioned his dad is Alan Hamel, she said, ‘I know Alan. Of course, I’d love to see Alan.’ So that was the beginning, and we’ve dated a few times since then, and she’s great … We have a lot in common, and we’ve had a good time dating, and that’s kind of where we are.”

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Casiddy was previously married to Dr. Kennard Kobrin, but they divorced in 1974.

“I knew her professionally, mostly professionally,” Hamel says of the actress. “I was very aware of her career, and her career blew me away, but I didn’t know her personally at all, and so it’s been a series of discovery on both our parts, and we really enjoy being together.”

Recent images show the Canadian native and the Who Framed Roger Rabbit actress arm-in-arm en route to lunch in Malibu, Calif.

“I don’t know where the relationship is going,” he adds. “I just know that at this very moment, it’s wonderful, and the reality is that as the foundational material for a relationship. It should go on for a long time being wonderful.”

When asked if his relationship with Cassidy helped him grieve, he adds, “I guess in a sense it does, because I’m enjoying it so much.”

Somers’ longtime publicist R. Couri Hay confirmed the star’s death in October 2023. 

“Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th. She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years,” a statement read. “Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family. Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”

Photos of the Step By Step star still fill Hamel’s home, which he lives in alone.

“My house is loaded with the pictures on the wall of Suzanne, and Suzanne is everywhere to be found in this house, and I feel good about it, but I also am very sad that she is gone,” he says. “But she did say, ‘We will reconnect after you crossover.’ ”