Tragic Real-Life Details About Suzanne Somers
Lifestyle News
By CHRISTINE ALEXANDER
This story contains discussions of domestic abuse.
CONTENT WARNING
Abusive Father
Suzanne Somers has spoken about her father's alcoholism and abuse in a memoir and interviews, including how she attacked him to protect her mother when she was 16.
Somers said the experience was terrifying but taught her something important; how to "us[e] forward energy to win, making the negative work for you," per Good Morning America.
Single Mom
While at a Catholic college, Somers got pregnant, then married. "I was thrown out of school and sent away from home in shame," she told Closer Weekly.
She got divorced in 1968, a time when divorces were uncommon. Somers explained, "[I]t was shameful for my family, shameful for the small town, and I moved further away."
Fired
Starring in "Three's Company" for five years, Somers was getting paid much less than her co-star, John Ritter. When she tried to negotiate for fair pay, she was fired.
Somers told Good Morning America: "It never, never entered my mind that they were gonna fire me to make an example so that women wouldn’t want to expect to be paid" like the men.
Breast Cancer
When Somers went for her yearly mammogram in 2001, something abnormal was found, and she received the devastating news that she had breast cancer.
Somers revealed her diagnosis in an interview with Larry King, saying she had undergone radiation treatment but opted to forgo chemotherapy in favor of alternate methods.
John Ritter
After Suzanne Somers was fired from "Three's Company," she didn't keep in touch with anyone from the show. Twenty years passed before she and John Ritter spoke again.
Ritter reached out to tell her about a part he had in mind for her on his sitcom "8 Simple Rules," in a dream sequence, creating a mini-reunion for the cast of "Three's Company."
Somers didn't initially like the concept, and the two spoke of finding another show to do together. One month later, Ritter died unexpectedly of an aortic dissection.