37 Facts About Suzanne Somers

Suzanne Marie Somers is an American actress, author, singer, businesswoman, and health spokesperson.

Suzanne Somers appeared in the television role of Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Foster Lambert on Step by Step.

Suzanne Somers has released two autobiographies, four diet books, and a book of poetry.

Suzanne Somers has been criticized for her views on some medical subjects and her advocacy of the Wiley Protocol, which has been labelled as "scientifically unproven and dangerous".

Suzanne Somers is the third of four children in an Irish-American Catholic family.

Suzanne Somers's mother, Marion Elizabeth, was a medical secretary, and her father, Francis Mahoney, was a laborer and gardener.

When Suzanne Somers was six years old her father became an alcoholic.

Suzanne Somers attended Capuchino High School She said she was a cheerleader at Mercy High School in Burlingame, California, and was accepted at San Francisco College for Women, a college run by the Catholic Society of the Sacred Heart order.

Suzanne Somers married Bruce Suzanne Somers in 1965, when she was 19, and they had a son, Bruce Jr.

Suzanne Somers became a prize model on Anniversary Game, where she met host Alan Hamel.

Suzanne Somers was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer in April 2000, and had a lumpectomy to remove the cancer followed by radiation therapy, but decided to forgo chemotherapy in favor of a fermented mistletoe extract called Iscador.

Suzanne Somers appeared in The Rockford Files in 1974 and had an uncredited role as a topless "pool girl" in Magnum Force in 1973.

Suzanne Somers later landed her most famous role of the ditzy blonde "Chrissy Snow" on the ABC sitcom Three's Company in 1977.

Suzanne Somers was cast in the ABC sitcom Three's Company in January 1977.

Suzanne Somers portrayed Chrissy Snow, a stereotypical dumb blonde, who was employed as an office secretary.

When Three's Company began its fifth season in late 1980, Suzanne Somers demanded a hefty salary increase from $30,000 to $150,000 an episode and 10 percent ownership of the show's profits.

Those close to the situation suggested that Suzanne Somers' rebellion was largely due to husband Hamel's influences.

Suzanne Somers finished the remaining season on her contract, but her role was decreased to just 60 seconds per episode, her character only appearing in the episode's closing tag in which Chrissy calls the trio's apartment from her parents' home.

The lawsuit was settled by an arbitrator who decided Suzanne Somers was owed $30,000, due to a single missed episode for which she had not been paid.

Suzanne Somers says she was fired for asking to be paid as much as popular male television stars of the day such as Alan Alda and Carroll O'Connor.

Suzanne Somers appeared in two Playboy cover-feature nude pictorials, in 1980 and 1984.

Suzanne Somers's first set of nude photos was taken by Stan Malinowski in February 1970 when Somers was a struggling model and actress and did a test photoshoot for the magazine.

Suzanne Somers was accepted as a Playmate candidate in 1971, but declined to pose nude before the actual shoot.

The second nude pictorial by Richard Fegley appeared in December 1984 in an attempt by Suzanne Somers to regain her diminished popularity after the Three's Company debacle in 1981.

Suzanne Somers felt she would have a better chance to control the quality of the photos the second time, and having such control was an important condition that Somers attached to posing.

At the height of her exposure as official spokesperson for Thighmaster infomercials, Suzanne Somers made her first return to a series, although not on network television.

Suzanne Somers portrayed a widow with two young kids who decided to fill the shoes of her late husband, a sheriff of a Nevada town.

In 1990, Suzanne Somers returned to network TV, appearing in numerous guest roles and made-for-TV movies, mostly for ABC.

Suzanne Somers had starred in the film with Heather Locklear, who inadvertently directed the focus of both production companies to Suzanne Somers due to Locklear's starring role on Going Places.

In September 1991, Suzanne Somers returned to series TV in the sitcom Step By Step, which became a success on ABC's youth-oriented TGIF lineup.

Suzanne Somers stayed for two years before PAX TV renewed the series without her.

In summer 2005, Suzanne Somers made her Broadway debut in a one-woman show, The Blonde in the Thunderbird, a collection of stories about her life and career.

In 2012, Somers began an online talk show, Suzanne Somers Breaking Through, at CafeMom.

Suzanne Somers welcomed various guests covering a wide range of topics related to health and fitness.

On February 24,2015, Suzanne Somers was announced as one of the stars participating on the 20th season of Dancing with the Stars.

Suzanne Somers had a lumpectomy, and radiation, but declined to undergo chemotherapy.

In November 2008, Suzanne Somers announced she was diagnosed with inoperable cancer by six doctors, but she learned a week later that she was misdiagnosed.