- Suzanne Somers was fired from Three’s Company after she asked to be paid the same as her male co-star John Ritter
- However, she earned $300 million as a spokesperson for ThighMaster
- A look back at her life and career after her death at age 76
Suzanne Somers has died at the age of 76, two days before her 77th birthday.
The Three’s Company star died following a relapse of breast cancer.
Here, we take a look back at her life and storied career, from her beginnings as Chrissy Snow in Three’s Company to the role of the matriarch in Step by Step.
Suzanne is also known for her work as a fitness guru and also helped popularize the ThighMaster when she served as the fitness device’s spokesperson.
In addition to acting, the blonde beauty was a model, author, mother and wife.
Remembered: How Suzanne Somers went from Three’s Company star to ThighMaster fitness guru: A look back at her career after her death at age 76
You’d Better Work: The popular sitcom starlet earned $300 million as a ThighMaster spokesperson
Three’s Company was Suzanne’s breakthrough role in 1977. The California-born Bitch played Chrissy, the secretary, a stereotypical dumb blonde who shared an apartment with John Ritter’s culinary student character Jack Tripper and Joyce DeWitts’ Janet Wood, a florist.
However, Suzanne was eventually fired from the series in 1980 after requesting a raise comparable to John’s salary of $150,000 per episode.
After the network rejected her request, they only offered her a paltry $5,000 more.
Alan Hamel, the fitness expert’s husband, told the Hollywood Reporter at the time: “The night before we went to the renegotiation, I got a call from a friend who had connections high up at ABC and he said, ‘You’re leaving.’ “Hanging a nun in the marketplace, and the nun is Suzanne.”
After Suzanne was fired from the show that made her a star, she worked gigs in Las Vegas and even posed in Playboy for her paycheck.
But in 1990 she found her moneymaker – the ThighMaster.
The American graffiti star not only represented the training device in commercials, but also sold it himself.
She told CNBC that she stopped counting how many ThighMasters she had sold after the “10 million milestone,” and later revealed on the Hollywood Raw podcast with Dax Holt and Adam Glyn that she had sold “300” over the years million US dollars” in ThighMaster sales.
When asked by CNBC why she thinks her sales technique is so successful, Suzanne humbly replied, “I sell to my age group, I know that.”
Business Babe: Instead of falling by the wayside after being fired from Three’s Company, Suzanne built her own empire on a throne of ThighMasters; Seen in 2018
Golden Girls: The enterprising actress revealed on the Hollywood Raw podcast with Dax Holt and Adam Glyn that she had raked in $300 million from ThighMaster sales since she started selling them in 1990; seen in 2019
Rest in Peace: The sitcom starlet was also cast as the matriarch in Step by Step in 1991 after being fired from Three’s Company in 1980; seen in 2020
Staying strong: The actress and business mogul has battled recurring bouts of breast cancer since she was first diagnosed in 2000; Seen in 2017
She added that she respects the fans who buy products from her, noting, “Always tell the truth… The public is smart and they can smell bullshit.”
Suzanne achieved acting success in 1991 when she was cast as Carole Foster-Lambert, the matriarch of a patchwork family, in the successful sitcom “Step by Step”.
She battled skin and breast cancer for years until her death on October 14th.
In August, noticing that her fans were worried about her, Suzanne posted a post about her ordeal with her recent cancer relapse, writing, “This is not new territory for me.” “I know how to put on my battle gear and I “I’m a fighter.”