As "Daytime's Leading Lady," Susan Lucci knows how to maintain her joy and her health while remaining front and center.
The actress, who celebrated her 79th birthday this past December, has been actively working since the late 1960s, achieving her breakthrough when she took on the role of Erica Kane on All My Children, a role she inhabited throughout its network run until 2011.
© Blackstone PublishingSince then, her life has changed in innumerable ways, from other TV and film projects to health scares with her heart and the loss of her longtime husband Helmut Huber. And she describes it all in her new memoir, La Lucci, which was published on February 3.
How does she balance it all? Speaking exclusively with HELLO! ahead of a talk with Joan Lunden on release day at The 92NY, Susan attributed finding joy and a healthy approach to life as her secret.
© Getty ImagesWhen asked about her philosophy on fitness, she told us: "I think first of all, it's the hip bones connected to the thigh bones, it's all part of the same thing, the body, mind, spirit."
The one exercise she can't do without now? Pilates! "I started doing Pilates in my 40s, and I'm really glad I did, I wish I'd started sooner." She attributes not only its physical effects on her body, the "results that I really like" and doing "various forms of it," but also how it plays a part in mental health.
"It really helps the stress, and I wish I had known about that," Susan shared, revealing that the change in her fitness regimen also naturally contributed to a shift in her diet. "Two weeks into doing Pilates, my cravings changed."
"Suddenly I did not want any more tacos or cheeseburgers," she continued. "If anyone had told me that before, I would not have believed it. Suddenly I wanted salads and salmon and blueberries, like that."
© La LucciThe All My Children alum now subscribes to the "Mediterranean diet," which in her words consists of an emphasis on "fish and vegetables and fruit," which "all stood me in good stead, and that's kept me healthy."
She also touched on her "heart event," referencing her 2018 operation to place two arterial stents in her heart. Susan reasoned as well that she realized she'd inherited her father's genes contributing to her heart trouble as opposed to her mother's, who passed away at 104.
© Getty ImagesGushing about her partnership with the American Heart Association as well (and wearing red on the occasion to symbolize it), she added: "I'm so proud of that. That's one of my proudest accomplishments."
"I'm so thrilled that people have liked me as an actress, and continue [to], and I love that," she continued. "But my other favorite, wonderful thing that I'm proud of is the work I get to do thanks to the American Heart Association."
© Getty Images"On behalf of women's heart health, and really men's heart health too, we want them around too!"
