Suzanne Somers took a nasty spill down some stairs with her husband, Alan Hamel, and she had to undergo neck surgery.
In a statement shared on her website and social media accounts, the 73-year-old media personality and wellness guru thanked fans for their concern, explaining why she had been absent from her Facebook Live show in recent weeks.
"As most of you know, I have been struggling for the better part of the year with a fractured hip, and then Alan and I took an unfortunate fall while coming down the stairs at our home," she wrote. "I had an intense amount of pain after the fall that was not resolving — even after having tequila! After several scans, it was determined I had 2 vertebrae out of place which was causing pressure on nerves and creating that tremendous pain."
Fortunately for Somers, it seems the surgery she underwent has resolved most of the issues she was experiencing.
"The good news is that I had neck surgery to correct these issues and now I am on the mend," she shared. "I need a bit more time to recover before I can join you again at the bar for our virtual cocktail parties."
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Hamel, who has been married to Somers since 1977, shared a statement with TODAY, explaining more about what happened to the couple.
"Unfortunately, both of us took a fall at the same time," he wrote. "We were at the top of stone steps leading from our bedroom and I accidentally stepped on the edge of a boulder, lost my balance and because we were holding hands I dragged Suzanne down on top of me. In that moment, I thought it’s a good thing that I’m on the bottom and she is on top of me so that I take the hit but unfortunately for some reason it was the other way around."
Hamel was not hurt in the accident, but he shared that Somers "got banged up pretty seriously."
"She immediately complained about the pain in her neck and shoulders and X-rays revealed that she had damaged vertebrae that were crushing the nerves," he explained. "The moment the surgery was complete the neck and shoulder pain she had experienced slowly went away and the only residual pain is from the surgery itself which is now dissipating."
Depending on how she fares, Hamel hopes they will be able to return to their regular Facebook Live shows, but it all depends on how "she’s feeling about it." He also shared that she must wear a neck brace for the next five weeks.
"Since the neck brace, I’ve been kidding her that she looks like one of those dogs that walks around with one of those cones around their head," he said, adding that she is enjoying daily visits from a herd of bighorn sheep and a baby roadrunner that visits their bedroom window.
He concluded, "Suzanne may look like a fragile flower, but relative to the life she has had, particularly her early life she knows what it is to endure extremely difficult situations."
Get better soon, Suzanne!