Suzanne Somers, one-third of ABC’s hit sitcom Three’s Company, has died, according to CNN. The actress and wellness entrepreneur would have turned 76 today. Her death came after another bout with cancer. Her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay, confirmed the news in a statement on Sunday.
“Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th. She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years,” Hay’s statement said via CNN. Hay explained Somers was surrounded by her husband, son, and immediate family.
According to CNN, Somers began her acting career in the early 1960s. Only landing fleeting parts, she made her first on-screen appearance in Geroge Lucas’ American Graffiti as “blonde in a T-bird.” Following this opportunity, she began making rounds on several TV shows including One Day at a Time, Starsky and Hutch, and The Love Boat. Then in 1977, she was cast along with Joyce DeWitt (Dinner with Friends) and the late John Ritter (8 Simple Rules) in Three’s Company. The successful sitcom launched her career and ran for five seasons until Somers’ Chrissy Snow was written off the show. Somers’ request for pay equity matching that of her male costar resulted in her firing.
“Men were all making 10 to 15 times more than me, including John Ritter,” Somers said in a 2020 interview according to CNN, “and the network decided to make an example of me so that no other woman would have the audacity to ask for parity. I lost that great job and I was so devastated at the time, but life is about veiled gifts. I was suddenly kicked out on the streets, but I kept reinventing myself, and my husband and I decided we wouldn’t work for anyone ever again.”
This misfortune opened other doors as Somers became a household name in Las Vegas, earning the title of Las Vegas Female Entertainer of the Year in 1987, via CNN. She’d continue acting in various sitcoms until landing another starring role in ABC’s family series Step by Step as Carol Foster Lambert. She shared the screen with another TV magnet, Patrick Duffy (Dallas), as two single parents who in marrying each other, merge their blended families. The series ran from 1991 to 1998.
Apart from acting, Somers became a personality within the wellness realm. According to CNN, Somers penned several books, including Sexy Forever, Ageless, and Knockout. She also hosted her own health and wellness talk show on Lifetime. But she became synonymous with the popular 90s exercise tool, the ThighMaster. Healthy living became a larger part of her career and something she shared with her husband of nearly five decades.
Somers’ was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, according to CNN. She would beat the disease multiple times, with her most recent recurrence in July. Somers took to her Instagram page to announce her latest fight with the disease.
“Since I have been taking time off from work, many of you have asked for more details about my health. As you know, I had breast cancer two decades ago, and every now and then it pops up again, and I continue to bat it down,” she stated via CNN. “This is not new territory for me. I know how to put on my battle gear and I’m a fighter.”
Somers’ Three’s Company costar, DeWitt, issued a statement via People saying, “My heart goes out to Suzanne’s family. They are a very close family — deeply connected and caring one to the other. I can only imagine how difficult this time is for all of them.”
Somers is survived by her husband, Alan, and her son, Bruce.