Suzanne Somers got fired for demanding equal pay on 'Three's Company' before cashing in with ThighMaster

Suzanne Somers became the fitness queen only after she was fired from "Three's Company" following an equitable pay dispute in the '80s.

Somers starred as beloved blonde secretary Chrissy Snow on the sitcom, and worked alongside Joyce DeWitt and John Ritter on the Emmy-winning series. Heading into the fifth season and amid meteoric success, the actress demanded a salary increase from $30,000 per episode to $150,000, which matched Ritter's compensation, in addition to a percentage of profits. 

ABC refused to give in to her demands, and the network slowly began nudging Somers out of the show until she was finally fired when her contract ended after the fifth season.

She didn't let television executives set her back for too long, however, and went on to a profitable Las Vegas residency before putting her entire focus toward building a fitness brand centered around one of the world's most coveted pieces of exercise equipment: the ThighMaster. Somers admitted she made almost $300 million from the device alone.

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Somers, who lived in Palm Springs with her husband of 46 years, Alan Hamel, gave one of her final, in-depth interviews in 2022 as part of the upcoming Fox Nation series, "The Infomercials That Sold Us."

"I will forever, ever be grateful to 'Three's Company,'" she said. "Wow, what an opportunity to create a character so beloved. And I would morph into her, and I miss doing her. That was the biggest thing when I got over the shock and the hurt and the anger."

The actress recalled some of the difficulties surrounding her exit from the popular show during an interview with Fox News Digital last year.

"At that time, the men were making 10 to 15 times more than I was," Somers said. "And I was on the No. 1 show. It just seemed wrong because I was clearly being underpaid. And it’s not like I stopped the show. My contract was up. We had a meeting with the lawyers [at ABC] …  But, by then, they had already decided." 

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"I was waiting at home — and remember, this was a time before cellphones, so it felt like an eternity," Somers recalled. "It was a gray day. And the front door opened in a way that you knew bad news was coming. It was really slow. And I heard my husband going up the stairs really slowly. I met him at the landing. 

"He looked at me, shook his head, and said, ‘You’re out. You were gone within the first five minutes when I walked into the meeting.' … Now, I was out of work and labeled ‘trouble’ only because I wanted to be paid fairly for doing my job."

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Somers had become known as a powerful female voice on television screens, and was regularly featured on magazine covers in addition to a fan-favorite on the late-night talk show circuit, but the media turned against her for taking a stand for herself.

"I just remember sitting in my living room — same gray, cold day, months later — just thinking, ‘Why?’" she recalled. "And I heard a voice. I think we all hear voices. We just don’t often tune in. But that voice said, ‘Why are you focused on what you don’t have? Why don’t you focus on what you do have? You have enormous visibility. Most of the people on the planet know your name at this point.’"

After wrapping her lucrative 15-year Las Vegas residency, Somers struck gold once again by becoming a brand ambassador for a simple-to-use exercise device touted to turn legs into shapely thighs in a matter of minutes.

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"I bought a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes that made my legs look so good," she said. "It was mainly a vanity thing. But when I bought the shoes, I was in my dressing room and thought, ‘Oh, my God, what is Al [Hamel] going to think? I’m so stupid for spending so much money on a pair of shoes.’ Well, it just happened that I was in my bra and underpants. So I walked out and asked, ‘Like my shoes?’ And he said, in his great, deep radio voice, ‘Great legs.’ That was the commercial. And I was able to write off the shoes because I wore them in the commercial."

Somers sold 10 million ThighMasters in the first two years and stopped counting thereafter. In 1992, she became one of the Home Shopping Network’s top-selling brands. She has since authored 27 books, including 14 bestsellers, and has clothing, jewelry, health, wellness and supplement brands in her name.

"I have over a thousand products," she told Fox News Digital in May 2022. "Would I have wanted to do it this way? No, but I allowed it to take me and us where it wanted to go. My biggest complaint today is that I work too much. I’m always keeping busy. 

"The pandemic worked for me because we started doing Facebook Live shows and Instagram shows three times a week. We start the show with some tequila on ice, and it’s like having a drink together while my husband is running the camera. There’s just so much freedom on the internet than there is on mainstream television. I’m just loving where I’ve been and where I’m heading."

Somers told the "Hollywood Raw Podcast" last year that she owned the ThighMaster and its rights 100 percent "outright."

"We had partners — 50/50 — and they got drunk on money when it all started selling," she said. "They overspent to the point where they could no longer afford to be in their side of the business, so we bought them out," she said. "We have 100%."

In her 2022 interview for the Fox Nation series, "The Infomercials That Sold Us," which is set to bow in January, the former "Step by Step" star further explained the popularity of the ThighMaster among her fan base.

"I have a constituency that most people don’t pay much attention to. I tell them, ‘don’t try to be what you’re not,’" she said. "I am an aging woman. I’m chronologically old, but I’m not old. They want what I have, and I tell them I use this ThighMaster and I do 150 of these a day. I also do the pectorals. And I do the upper shoulder. It works for many things."

Somers died "peacefully at home" on Sunday. She was 76.

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"She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years," her representative confirmed in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family. Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th." 

"Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly," Somers' rep said. "A private family burial will take place this week, with a memorial to follow next month."

Somers was diagnosed with cancer twice before. She suffered skin cancer in her 30s and breast cancer in her 50s. In July, she revealed to Fox News Digital that her breast cancer had returned.

"I have been living with cancer for decades now, using the best of alternative and conventional medicine to keep it at bay. Every time that little f---er pops up, I continue to bat it back," she said. 

"As one of millions of cancer patients, we do our best not to let this insidious disease control us. I find bliss in each day. My husband has been by my side every step of the way, and my family has been so supportive. Thank you for the outpouring of love and good wishes." 

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Somers married her second husband, television host Hamel, in 1977. She regularly discussed their loving relationship with each other.

In addition to son Bruce, they have three granddaughters: Camelia, Violet and Daisy.

Fox News Digital's Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.