“Well\u2026 yes. Well, I don’t know how close I got. They saw two people in New York \u2014 one was Kim Basinger and one was me\u2026 It was a summer day. I went to the beautiful Broccoli townhouse\u2026 and I was so happy to be seen,” Lucci said during an appearance on “Today.”<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018ALL MY CHILDREN\u2019 STAR SUSAN LUCCI ONCE ATE ASPARAGUS FOR 10 DAYS TO FIT INTO \u2018SEXY\u2019 NIGHTGOWN<\/a><\/p>\n Susan Lucci says she was up for a coveted Bond girl role but lost it to Kim Basinger. (Michael Loccisano\/Getty Images for AHA)<\/p>\n “Then a couple of weeks later, I was in the hair and makeup room of ‘All My Children’ \u2014 they handed me a copy of Playboy magazine, and there was Kim Basinger,” she recalled. “And I said, \u2018Oh, OK then.\u2026 Kim is getting the part. It won’t be me.\u2019”<\/p>\n Basinger would go on to grace the February 1983 cover as “007\u2019s new woman,” starring opposite Sean Connery in “Never Say Never Again” \u2014 and closing the door on what might have been Lucci\u2019s Bond moment.<\/p>\n Actor Sean Connery appears as James Bond alongside Kim Basinger and Barbara Carrera in a scene from the 1983 film “Never Say Never Again.” (Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n SUSAN LUCCI WAS \u2018LOST\u2019 AFTER LOSING HUSBAND OF 53 YEARS, FEARED SHE\u2019D NEVER ACT AGAIN<\/a><\/p>\n Decades later, Lucci is still rewriting her own script.<\/p>\n In March 2026, the beloved soap opera star \u2014 who famously portrayed Erica Kane \u2014 opened up about everything from getting into shape after childbirth to finding balance after loss in her memoir “La Lucci.”<\/p>\n “I really did eat asparagus for 10 days<\/a> straight before I had to go back to work a week early,” she told Fox News Digital, admitting, “I was very nervous about it. And on top of it, it was a tight, black, sexy nightgown. I thought, \u2018Are they kidding?\u2019 While I was really happy to go play Erica Kane, I just wondered, \u2018Oh my goodness, I\u2019ve got to lose this weight.\u2019”<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n Susan Lucci and Lee Godart cuddling in bed in a scene from the daytime soap “All My Children.” (Robin Platzer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “But in no way did it make me unhappy. I just did what I had to do. That\u2019s all.”<\/p>\n These days, Lucci\u2019s approach is less crash diet, more clean living.<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n Susan Lucci says she competed with Kim Basinger for a Bond girl role and learned she lost the part after seeing her rival on the cover of Playboy magazine. (Nina Westervelt\/Variety)<\/p>\n![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/susan-lucci-diet-book.jpg\")
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