Susan Lucci honors late husband with a daily two-cup coffee ritual

In an exclusive excerpt from her memoir La Lucci published in PEOPLE, Susan Lucci, 79, says she honors her late husband Helmut Huber each morning by setting out two coffee cups — one for him and one for her. Lucci married Huber in 1969 after eight months of dating; he died in 2022 at age 84, one month after suffering a stroke.

Writing about the ritual, Lucci recalls, “When Helmut was alive, I would put out two china cups — one for Helmut and one for me — and each of us would have our two servings of coffee in our own cup. Now, I set the breakfast table for one, BUT I still put out two cups near the coffee maker.

I have the first cup in my coffee cup, and the second in his.” She says the small practice helps her feel connected and “makes me feel so much better.” Lucci reflects on her grief journey and says she has worked to recover her resilience: “I had to find my resilience because I thought it was all gone… And so I chose to find that again.

And yes, I have found my resilience again.” She says an early turning point after Huber’s death came when she took part in an event where comedian Mario Cantone was also reading, which she felt might help save her through work and laughter. Another watershed moment came at a summer dinner party in Washington, D.C., where a woman named Marjorie — who had endured major losses of her own — told Lucci, “You know, at a certain point, I think it’s a choice.

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