Susan Lucci Reflects on the “All My Children” Storyline She ‘Hated,’ Erica Kane’s ‘Iconic’ Fight with a Bear (Exclusive)

Susan Lucci played ultimate soap schemer Erica Kane on All My Children for more than 40 years, so obviously, she’s seen her share of big storylines. Some were great (Erica’s daughter Bianca coming out as a lesbian, Erica’s alcoholism) and some were simply outrageous (Erica’s showdown with a bear — more on that later).

Lucci discusses her work on All My Children as well as her journey with grief after losing her husband of 52 years, Helmut Huber, in 2022 in her new memoir La Lucci (out Feb. 3 from Blackstone Publishing).

The actress sat for an exclusive PEOPLE interview for a cover story in this week’s issue, and she talked about a storyline that came several months before All My Children‘s 2011 series finale. (Lucci played Erica from episode 1 all the way to the very end.) It stands out in the actress’s mind as a true jump-the-shark moment.

“I’ll tell you, the one I hated was one that came very late in the game,” Lucci, 79, tells PEOPLE. “I played Erica, but I also played a stalker of hers. I hated that. I just didn’t like it. It just seemed, I don’t know, forced. I don’t know. I didn’t love it. I didn’t love it. And I don’t think that was [written by AMC creator] Agnes [Nixon]. I think that was something that would come at the end.”

In the storyline, a woman named Jane Campbell had extensive plastic surgery to look just like Erica. Jane kidnapped Erica on Erica’s wedding day and then spent weeks assuming her identity. Doppelgängers are a staple of daytime soap operas, but for Lucci, two Erica Kanes was simply one too many.

She’s more appreciative of an even more outrageous 1985 storyline in which Erica Kane stared down a threatening grizzly bear. After a few tense moments, she bellowed, “I am Erica Kane, and you are a filthy beast.” The filthy beast beat it.

“I’ll tell you the truth, I will try anything in rehearsal,” Lucci says when the subject of Erica’s bear encounter comes up during her interview with PEOPLE. “That morning, we were on location up north on the Finger Lakes in Canada, but way north of Toronto. And they brought the bear. It was a very hot day in the summer, and this bear, with its trainer or handler, just wanted to be in this creek that was on the property. So the bear was just trying to stay cool in the water.”

Lucci discussed the scene with executive producer Jacqueline Babbin and the improbable twist: “That Erica would fight the bear and would win,” Lucci recalls. “I said, ‘Jackie, you know I will do anything in rehearsal. I’ll try anything, but don’t you think we’ve gone too far?’ And she said, ‘No, no, try it.’ So I did.”

Unfortunately, the bear was not as cooperative behind the scenes as it was onscreen. “The bear did not want to work,” she says. “The bear was like so hot — furry bear, on a hot July day in the water. It just wanted to stay in the water. And when the trainer brought the bear to stand opposite me to play the scene, the bear was just like, ‘Rah.’ ”

“He did not want to work, but I tried it,” she continues. “We got it in one take. She was happy. Jackie Babin was happy, the crew was happy and we went on from there. Who knew that was going to become such an iconic Eric Kane scene?”

During her tenure of 40-plus years, Lucci amassed a legion of fans, including many of her colleagues.

“Susan was one of my favorite people in the whole world to work with,” Cameron Mathison, who played Ryan Lavery on AMC and now plays Drew Cain on General Hospital, tells PEOPLE. “I loved her whole energy and friendship. I think because I was close with her husband Helmut and her son Andreas, it brought me even closer to her.”

“By the time that the writers had put us together as a couple, we were already very close,” he adds. “We had so much fun together, and that was one of my favorite storylines in my 14 years on the show. Even though the audience hated it, Susan and I loved it.”

Michael E. Knight, who played AMC‘s Tad Martin and now appears on General Hospital as Martin Gray, is equally effusive when discussing Lucci in an email to PEOPLE: “It’s ridiculous to try and sum up what Susan means to me in a line or two. Too much vies for too little.”

“What can I possibly say about an adored, professional, glamorous, hysterical, loyal and compassionate friend who changed the course of my life when I was still too young and inexperienced to know how incredibly lucky I was,” Knight writes. “I CAN tell you, however, the greatest lesson she ever TAUGHT me was all about gratitude. If I’m still ‘in there’ swinging today (having started when the world was still cooling), it’s because Susan once told me, ‘Mikey, they’ll love you for 50 years. All you gotta do is love them back for five minutes.’ ”

“The woman could say ‘thank you’ to the avalanche of devoted fans who never STOPPED approaching her in any one of a 1000 ways, each and every one sincere and heartfelt. She made people feel special.”

“Susan, I love you… Always have… Always will. But more than ANYTHING, ‘Thank you.’ It’s a complete sentence… a very VERY important one.“

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La Lucci will be released by Blackstone Publishing on Feb. 3 and is currently available for preorder, wherever books are sold.