She was no dumb blonde. We recently heard of the death of actress Suzanne Somers.
While most of us, of a certain age, remember her as the quirky Chrissy on Three’s Company, she was so much more.
I do remember her being fired from the show, but I had forgotten why.
According to People.com, after four seasons on the successful sitcom, Somers demanded equal pay to that of John Ritter.
By the end of season four, she was getting $30,000 per episode and he was getting $150,000.
The network asked, “Who do you think you are?”
Somers spoke to Entrepreneur in 2020, saying: “I did not plan to be this person. I really liked being Chrissy Snow on TV. I didn’t plan to be the unofficial first feminist when I demanded equal pay. Men were all making 10 to 15 times more than me, including John Ritter. 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 devastated at the time, but life is about veiled gifts. I kept reinventing myself and my husband and I decided we would never work for anyone ever again.”
It split apart her TV family and for three decades there was no communication.
Over the years, she became as widely known in the field of health, wellness and exercise as she had for her acting.
Books on beauty and aging gracefully.
A talk show I don’t really recall.
Did any woman in the 1990s not own a Thigh Master?
Chances are that if you didn’t have one you certainly remember the commercials.
It never did make my legs slightly resemble Suzanne’s, but I did try.
She became a very successful businesswoman.
Somers was vocal about her fight with breast cancer, which her agent confirms she fought for 23 years.
She often talked about controversial treatments. She faced public backlash for arguing against the use of chemotherapy and relying instead on what she called chemical-free and an organic lifestyle.
Whatever your thoughts on alternative medicine, it seemed to have worked for her for a long time.
The cancer returned in July and she went public again to say: “Every now and then, the cancer pops up again and I continue to bat it down.”
It seems to me she was ahead of her time in many ways.
She was successful in many aspects of the entertainment business.
In life, she was happily married for four decades to Canadian entertainer Alan Hamel. It appeared to be a true blue love story. In his final love letter for his wife, he said he could not begin to describe the depth of love he felt.
She almost made it to her 77th birthday, dying the day before.
I admire her for fighting the good fight against inequality in the workforce.
I applaud her fight against cancer.
Her breakout role was that solitary scene in American Graffiti as the blonde bombshell in the T-Bird.
That’s how I choose to remember her — riding off into the sunset in that white Thunderbird, with her blonde hair flowing and that bright, broad smile.
