Any child that grew up in a home filled with addiction may have issues later in life. One “Three’s Company” star talked about her situation.
Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow, discussed life with an alcoholic father. She talked about it in a 2019 interview with Closer Weekly.
“It runs in our genes; I’ve written several books about my father, the first one starting the adult children of alcoholics movement, which was called ‘Keeping Secrets,'” Somers says. The actress is kicked off “Three’s Company” after five seasons. Somers referred to her best-selling book that became a movie she produced.
‘Three’s Company’ Star Recalled Bullying Language She Heard As A Child
“It was the first time a celebrity ever told the tale on themself — it’s easy to tell the story about your alcoholic dad,” Somers said. “The other story is, what did it do to me?”
Somers remembers “being berated over and over again as a child.”
“And I realized how bullies have to bully you to stay with you,” she says.
Somers repeatedly said she heard the word “you’re” before a person told her that she was nothing, stupid, hopeless, worthless, and a piece of crap. As in, “You’re nothing.”
“And I believed it,” Somers said.
Somers managed to put together quite a career after her time on “Three’s Company” was over. She wrote a number of books, appeared in a Playboy pictorial, and returned to primetime TV.
She teamed up with “Dallas” star Patrick Duffy to be in the sitcom “Step by Step” for ABC and CBS. The show lasted for seven seasons. While all this went on, Somers had revamped her own career where she presented herself as a Las Vegas entertainer.
Somers marries Canadian entertainer Alan Hamel in 1977. In her first marriage to Bruce Somers, which lasts for three years, Somers has her only child, Bruce Jr.
Veteran TV Executive Suggested Actress Would Fit Chrissy Snow Character
The ABC sitcom was still looking for an actress to fill a third key role on “Three’s Company.” Who would be the one to do it?
Show producer George Sunga says in a 2008 interview with the Archive of American Television the character remains a work in progress before the premiere. Sunga talked about how the show landed on Somers.
“The Chrissy character, the Chrissy role, had not really been defined yet,” Sunga said. “So it was still a vague character.” Then, Somers comes in at the suggestion of Fred Silverman at ABC.
Silverman worked not only at ABC but NBC and CBS throughout his television career. It is Silverman who brings shows like “All in the Family,” “Charlie’s Angels,” and “The Waltons” to TV. He helps bring Somers to TV stardom.
