Suzanne Somers

Attended and graduated from Capuchino High School in San Bruno, California (1964). Was active in drama.

Suzanne Somers is the third of four children born to Frank and Marion Mahoney. Her father worked loading beer onto boxcars, and her mother was a medical secretary. She grew up living in constant fear of being hurt or even killed at the hands of her verbally and physically abusive alcoholic father. She was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was young, and was a poor student. She excelled, however, in the arts and was active in her school's theater program. She won a music scholarship to college, but became pregnant after six months. She married the baby's father, "Bruce Somers", and her only child, Bruce Somers, was born in November 1965. She was unhappy in her marriage and began an affair with her former drama teacher.

Her husband found out about it and the marriage ended after just two years, in 1967. A single mom, she turned to modeling in San Francisco to support herself and her son. She also distanced herself from her family because her older brother and sister by then were also alcoholics.

In 1968, she won a job as a prize model on a game show hosted by her future husband, Alan Hamel, who was married at the time. The two began dating, and she became pregnant while Hamel was still married. They came to the conclusion that Suzanne should have an abortion, from which she suffered severe bleeding for several days.

In the early 1970s, she landed minor roles in film and TV, and finally won a role on the series Three's Company (1976), where she modeled her character after Dick Clark's wife.

In 1971, her son Bruce was severely injured when he was hit by a car, and the therapist counseling him only charged the struggling Suzanne $1 per week. Suzanne herself also underwent therapy to overcome the problems of her dysfunctional childhood.

At the beginning of the fifth season of Three's Company (1976), she asked for a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode (equivalent to $450,000 in 2014) and 10% ownership of the sitcom. Those requests were not met, and then boycotted the second and fourth shows of the season, claiming false excuses such as a broken rib. ABC forced her to finish out the remaining season on her contract, but decreased her character's role to one minute a week in taping. She was escorted by a security guard to a sound stage behind the set, where she filmed her few scenes, because she was no longer allowed on the set with John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt. Somers was then fired after her contract expired, and she sued ABC for $2 million, claiming her credibility in the business had been damaged. The suit was settled for about $30,000.

She married Hamel in 1977. She was fired from the series after she asked for a raise at the beginning of the fifth season.

She then headed to Las Vegas, where she performed extensively in the mid-1980s.

She and Joyce DeWitt did not speak for 30 years after leaving the sitcom in 1981. In February 2012, they finally reunited after Suzanne invited Joyce to be a guest on her web series "Suzanne Somers: Breaking Through".

In 1986, she began writing her autobiography, "Keeping Secrets", which was later made into a TV movie.

While performing in Las Vegas, she had to paint one shoe red and the other black in order to learn the choreography of the dance numbers. She could not tell her right from her left because of her dyslexia. In 1990, founded the Suzanne Somers Institute for the Effects of Addictions on Families, in Palm Springs, California. In 1991, she won the Humanitarian Award from the National Council on Alcoholism.

In 1991, Suzanne landed the role of "Carol Foster", opposite Patrick Duffy, on the TV series Step by Step (1991).

(March 28, 2001) Announced on Larry King Live (1985) that she is battling breast cancer, and that she is undergoing homeopathic treatment against the will of her doctors. She also underwent liposuction in an effort to deal with the effects of the cancer.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California in January 24, 2003.

In January 2007, her Malibu seafront home was burned to the ground by a wind-driven wildfire in Southern California.