Suzanne Somers ᴅɪᴇᴅ on aged 76, after a long fight with breast ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ.
Her agent broke the terrible news, saying she “pa:ss:ed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th.”
It was a gloomy moment for her family, who had come to mark what would have been her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they opted to commemorate her extraordinary life and show their gratitude to the countless admirers and followers who held her dear.
Suzanne Somers dealt with a tragic health issue
Suzanne Somers fought an aggressive form of breast ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ for 23 years and demonstrated amazing strength. Her representatives reported that her family, which included her loving husband, Alan, her son, Bruce, and her immediate relatives, were by her side in her final moments. This week, a private family burial will take place, followed by a memorial service in November.
Suzanne, however, was not dealing with ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ for the first time. She developed skin ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ in her thirties and breast ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ in her fifties.
In July, she revealed to Fox News that her breast ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ had returned, saying: “I have been living with ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ for decades now, using the best of alternative and conventional medicine to keep it at bay. Every time that little f***** pops up, I continue to bat it back.”
Addressing her most recent diagnosis, she said: “It’s a recurrence of my breast ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ. Like any ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ patient, when you get that dreaded, ‘It’s back,’ you get a pit in your stomach. Then I put on my battle gear and go to war. This is familiar battleground for me, and I’m very tough.”
Rise to fame
Suzanne Somers rose to prominence in 1977 when she played Chrissy Snow, the lively blonde roommate on the sitcom Three’s Company, with Jack Tripper (John Ritter) and Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt).
Her career took off, and she even became the spokesperson for the ThighMaster, an at-home exercise product meant to tone legs that has reportedly produced $300 million in revenue since its launch. She co-owned the product with her husband, Alan Hamel.
Suzanne Somers’ entrepreneurial spirit went beyond the ThighMaster. She authored 27 novels, including 14 New York Times bestsellers, and her name appeared on a wide range of things, from jewelry to protein formulas.
Suzanne was dedicated to living a healthy lifestyle. Her recent struggle with cancer prompted her to emphasize organic and chemical-free products in her daily life, with the actress stating, “It’s really hard for me to eat food that’s not organic because I had ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ.”
Husband’s letter
Suzanne had been married to her beloved Alan since 1977. The couple has a son named Bruce and three grandchildren: Camelia, Violet, and Daisy.
Following Suzanne’s ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ, a tragic letter Alan penned to his wife was published in People. A day before she ᴅɪᴇᴅ, he gave her the note, which was written in all caps and wrapped in pink peonies.
“Love I use it every day, sometimes several times a day. I use it at the end of emails to my loving family. I even use it in emails to close friends. I use it when I’m leaving the house,” the note began, via People. “There’s love, then love you and I love you!! Therein lies some of the different ways we use love. Sometimes I feel obliged to use love, responding to someone who signed love in their email, when I’m uncomfortable using love but I use it anyway.”
“I also use love to describe a great meal. I use it to express how I feel about a show on Netflix. I often use love referring to my home, my cat Gloria, to things Gloria does, to the taste of a cantaloupe I grew in my garden. I love the taste of a freshly harvested organic royal jumbo medjool date. I love biting a fig off the tree. I love watching two giant blackbirds who live nearby swooping by my window in a power dive. My daily life encompasses things and people I love and things and people I am indifferent to,” he continued. “I could go on ad infinitum, but you get it. What brand of love do I feel for my my wife Suzanne? Can I find it in any of the above? A resounding no!!!! There is no version of the word that is applicable to Suzanne and I even use the word applicable advisedly.”
“The closest version in words isn’t even close. It’s not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Unconditional love does not do it. I’ll take a bullet for you doesn’t do it. I weep when I think about my feelings for you. Feelings… That’s getting close, but not all the way.”
“55 years together, 46 married and not even one hour apart for 42 of those years. Even that doesn’t do it,” he added. “Even going to bed at 6 o’clock and holding hands while we sleep doesn’t do it. Staring at your beautiful face while you sleep doesn’t do it.”
“I’m back to feelings. There are no words,” he concluded. “There are no actions. No promises. No declarations. Even the green shaded scholars of the Oxford University Press have spent 150 years and still have failed to come up with that one word. So I will call it, ‘Us,’ uniquely, magically, indescribably wonderful ‘Us.’”
This is truly heartbreaking… Our deepest sympathies go out to Suzanne Somers’ family, friends, and fans at this incredibly difficult time.
