Born in October 1946, Suzanne Marie Somers was an American actress, singer, author, health spokesperson, and businesswoman. She died on 15 October 2023 (Sunday), and people recalled her termination from Three’s Company.
Three’s Company is an American sitcom based on the British sitcom Man About The House. The former aired for eight seasons from 1977 to 1984 on ABC. Suzanne played one of the leading characters, Christmas “Chrissy” Snow, alongside Joyce DeWitt and John Ritter.
Besides Three’s Company, Suzanne appeared in various television shows and films such as American Graffiti (1973), Serial Mom (1994), Seduced by Evil (1994), The Darklings (1999), ShopNBC, Say It Isn’t So (2001), and more.
The seventy-six-year-old Suzanne was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer and got her breasts removed in 2000. Lumpectomy and radiation therapy worked for her at that time. However, the cancer returned in early 2023, and she died peacefully at home in October.
Why Did Suzanne Somers Leave Three’s Company?
Last year, Suzanne poured her heart out on an interview for ‘The Infomercials That Sold Us,’ a Fox Nation series. Accordingly, she was fired and framed as ‘trouble’ by Threes Company for demanding equal pay as men.
Suzanne knew men earned over fifteen times more than women. She expected to be paid equally as men because she worked at the No. 1 show. However, Suzanne did not leave the show. Her contract ended, and she met the lawyers to revise it. Little did she know what was waiting for her.
ABC President Fred Silverman spotted Suzanne in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Besides Susan Lanier, Suzanne Somers could not impress the producers through her performance in the first two pilot episodes of Three’s Company.
Breaking Blonde Stereotypes, Suzanne played Chrissy Snow in the show with an initial payment of $3,500 per week. Three’s Company Season 5 was released in late 1980, and Suzanne, as suggested by her husband Alan Hamel, demanded 10% of the show’s profits and a salary between $30,000 and $150,000 per episode.
Suzanne did not show up in the second and fourth episodes due to her supposed health reasons. The producers offered her $5,000 per episode, but she was not happy. Somehow, she appeared in the remaining episodes of the fifth season from October 1980 to May 1981.
Suzanne’s Termination
Suzanne’s character appeared only during the closing tags for one minute in the fifth season. Suzanne’s husband met the decision-makers and conveyed their decision. He learned about her termination within the first five minutes of the meeting.
Suzanne’s scenes were filmed on separate days in the absence of other cast members on the set because she was still under contract in the fifth season. According to the show, her character, Chrissy Snow, returned to her hometown to look after her ill mother.
In the following season, Chrissy appeared only in telephone conversations with her former roommates. Further, her cousin, Cindy Snow, took her place in the show.
Suzanne sued ABC Network, demanding $2 million, for damaging her reputation in the show business. However, a mediator intervened and settled the case by offering her only $30,000 for an episode she appeared in but was not paid for.
After Getting Terminated
Suzanne and John Ritter (the leading actor in the show) did not talk to each other for twenty years after her termination. However, they reconciled their friendship shortly before John’s death in September 2003.
Termination from Three’s Company, however, turned fruitful because Suzanne concentrated on fitness and emerged as a fitness queen after that. Three’s Company helped her create a character appreciated by many. She morphed into the character and missed doing it after the termination.
After remaining isolated for months, Suzanne decided to focus on what she had rather than what she did not. She became the brand ambassador of Thighmaster, a thigh-shaping exercise product that sold over ten million pieces in the first two years.
Suzanne opened her jewelry, clothing, wellness, health, and supplement lines. Fourteen books, out of the twenty-seven written by Suzanne, are the best sellers. She remained busy with her empire, though it was never on her bucket list.
Suzanne made live Instagram and Facebook videos filmed by her husband during the pandemic. It is how she learned about the freedom associated with social media rather than television.
