Suzanne Somers had a long and successful career as an actress, entrepreneur, and author. The Three’s Company star tragically died in 2023, after a long battle with cancer, which she had been living with for years.
Somers chose not to go through with chemotherapy but instead relied on alternative medication and treatments.
Even so, her friends reportedly begged her to reconsider her decision. Sadly, it was too late, and she passed away on October 15, 2023. The death certificate obtained by USA Today painted a new picture of what killed her.
Suzanne Somers went from unknown to a star in a very short period. After appearing in plays in high school, she got her first significant role in the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti, in which she had a single line: “I love you.”
“This is a life-changing moment. Five seconds on film that will never be forgotten,” she said, adding that Lucas told her, “Everybody will always remember the mysterious blonde in the Thunderbird.”
Suzanne Somers
Not long after, Suzanne Somers got a gig at The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where she began reading poetry in front of a national audience every month. She credited herself as the “Mysterious Blonde in the Thunderbird.”
It was difficult to miss Suzanne Somers, and this one TV executive didn’t either. He offered her a role in a new television series called Three’s Company. She was cast as Chrissy Snow and helped the series become a television mega-hit.
“I am really proud of creating that dumb blonde cause she had a moral code. She was lovable,” Somers explained.
However, Somers’ time on Three’s Company got an abrupt ending. She felt, rightly so, that she should get equally paid as the male leading actor, John Ritter, on the show, asking the producers for a 500 percent raise. Instead of the $30,000 she earned weekly, she wanted $150,000.
Instead of getting a raise, Suzanne Somers didn’t get paid at all. Why? She was fired.
“When I got fired, I thought, ‘I should never have asked. Why did I ask? Why did I think I could get paid what men are being paid? Who did I think I was?” she said.
“Rather than thinking, ‘Hey, c’mon. I have the highest demographics of any woman on television. I’m on the No. 1 show. I’m doing the heavy lifting, too,’ I went right into low self-esteem. I hid in my house for a year in absolute grief.”
Somers got some other roles, including starring in She’s the Sheriff for 44 episodes, after Three’s Company, but her passion had shifted. Instead, she went on to release books and become an entrepreneur, earning herself a fortune. At the time of her passing, Suzanne was said to have a net worth of $100 million.
