Suzanne Somers' Husband Gave Heartfelt Gift Hours Before Her Passing

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• TV star Suzanne Somers passed away this week, a day shy of her 77th birthday

• Her longtime husband Alan Hamel had gifted Somers a personally composed love poem as an "early birthday present" the day before she passed

• The deeply personal poem examined Hamel's struggle to express the extent of his love and devotion to Somers

TV fans have a heavy heart in the wake of the passing of Suzanne Somers, star of hits like Three's Company and Step by Step. It's fair to say that Somers had a tumultuous and, at times, profoundly challenging life outside the purview of the television cameras. But one constant, from 1977 onward, was her devoted and loving husband, Alan Hamel.

The couple met when Somers was a prize model on The Anniversary Game, of which Hamel was the host. The two married in 1977, the same year Somers began her career-defining work on Three's Company.

Hamel was reportedly by her side in the final days as she succumbed to cancer. And though she died the day before what would have been her 77th birthday, Somers received an early birthday present from her longtime partner.

Hamel gave Somers a poem he had composed, the subject of which was Hamel's struggle to find a way to define his love for his wife. Page Six reports that the poem was "wrapped in her favorite pink peonies."

People obtained and published a copy of the whole, profoundly personal poem Hamel composed, which began with Hamel noting how often he uses "love" to describe how he feels about "a great meal" or "a show on Netflix."

"What brand of love do I feel for my wife, Suzanne?" he questions, "The closest version in words isn’t even close."

"It’s not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction," he later writes, "Unconditional love does not do it. I’ll take a bullet for you, doesn’t do it. I weep when I think about my feelings for you."

Hamel closes his poem by saying, "So I will call it, 'us,' uniquely, magically, indescribably wonderful 'us.'"

The longtime publicist to Somers, R. Couri Hay, told People that Hamel gave the poem to Somers "a day early, and she read the poem and went to bed and later died peacefully in her sleep."

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