Suzanne Somers’ Husband Reflects on the Fallout of Her Three’s Company Salary Fight and Firing (Exclusive)

Suzanne Somers will be best remembered for her iconic TV characters and her reign as a fitness queen, but some of her most important work happened behind the scenes, including her courageous refusal to accept less than equal pay for her work on Three’s Company.

After four seasons on ABC’s Emmy-winning comedy, the actress — who died Sunday at age 76 — became the show’s “breakout star,” friend Sue Cameron told PEOPLE.

“She did American graffiti and her picture in that car in American graffiti he got everything,” said Cameron, a former director of daytime television for ABC. “When she got Three’s Companyshe exploded like a star, and she really was.”

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‘Three’s Company’ stars Joyce DeWitt, John Ritter and Suzanne Somers.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney/Getty

In light of her success, Somers believed that she should receive a significant salary increase from $30,000 per episode to $150,000 per episode, which would put her on equal footing with her male co-star John Ritter.

The year was 1981, and Somers’ request was not well received.

Her husband, former TV producer Alan Hamel, claimed to have received a mysterious late-night phone call at the time.

“A man I didn’t know introduced himself,” Hamel recalls, “and said, ‘I’m a very good friend of your very good friend. I came out of a meeting today and they decided to hang a nun in the market, and Suzanne Somers was going to be it. ”

When Hamel, 87, asked for an explanation, the tipster explained that executives wanted to “prevent women from asking to be paid as much as men.”

According to Hamel, Somers was fired the morning after. His first thought was, “You just ruined some of the greatest chemistry on television.”

Suzanne Somers recalls being fired from ‘Three’s Company’ for demanding equal pay: ‘I was ostracized’

Somers was distraught by the decision at the time, later telling Entrepreneur 2020, “I didn’t plan to be the unofficial first feminist when I demanded equal pay.”

Other actresses were brought in to replicate the archetype of Somers’ character Chrissy Snow, but the play never fully recovered. Meanwhile, Hollywood labeled Somers as a kind of showbiz pariah, and work on television was hard to come by for years for the once sought-after actress.

After being fired, Somers remained unattached. “I probably would never have left television,” she told PEOPLE in 2020. “I would have continued and probably been on every sitcom after that if it hadn’t ended the way it did. But I was ostracized. So I left.”

‘Step by Step’ cast including Brandon Call, Angela Watson, Patrick Duffy, Suzanne Somers, Staci Keanan, Christopher Castile, Josh Byrne and Christine Lakin.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney/Getty

However, with Hamel’s help, Somers reinvented herself. “I would like to have a show in Las Vegas,” she admitted to her husband.

The actress spent the next few years living and performing in the city, performing at venues such as the old MGM Grand (now the Horseshoe Las Vegas), where she signed a two-year contract. She eventually returned to television, appearing in the 1985 miniseries Hollywood wives and gets another major role in 1991 opposite Dallas heartthrob Patrick Duffy in the family sitcom Step by stepwhich aired for seven seasons until 1998.

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Steve Granitz/WireImage

The life of Suzanne Somers in photographs

Hamel became Somers’ manager in the early 1980s to help her land long-term, career-focused deals. The two struck gold when they bought the rights to ThighMaster, which became a national sensation and elevated Somers to Jane Fonda-level fitness icon status.

“We realized that every woman alive would love a ThighMaster at some point,” Hamel tells PEOPLE. “We went back to the group that owned the rights, made a deal, changed the color combination, called it ThighMaster, produced the commercial and got down to business. And on the first day it became a great success.”

Somers also judiciously expanded her business in the years that followed to include dozens of products, including essential oils and air purifiers, though her work took a back seat after the breast cancer she was first diagnosed with in 2000 returned in 2023. .

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty

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More than four decades after its launch Three’s Company was unceremoniously cut short, Hamel tells PEOPLE that his wife would like to be remembered for her work as the “delicious character” Chrissy.

“She brought joy to everyone’s heart with that character. He was lovable and beautiful, and he was exactly what she wanted,” he says, comparing the show to classic sitcoms including I love Lucy. “It will play forever.”

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Source: HIS Education