Many people don't know what sacrifices Suzanne Somers made for equal pay.
By 1980, she had already won a People's Choice Award for "favorite female performer," and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on Three's Company.
But her male counterparts made more money – a LOT more.
When it came time for fifth-season negotiations, she asked for a pay hike from $30,000 an episode to $150,000.
That was identical to what John Ritter was receiving, and comparable to salaries that MASH's Alan Alda and All in the Family's Carroll O'Connor were being paid on shows with much lower ratings.
Instead, ABC offered her just a $5,000 increase.
"It was like, I'm selling more tickets than any of them. And shouldn’t it be about how many tickets you sell and how many viewers you have?"
She protested. And was fired.
"I couldn't get a job. And I still don’t know what they told the cast, but everyone turned against me."
She eventually built back her career as a product spokesperson, before landing a big new sitcom in the 90s, Step By Step.
But she still had no relationship with her former costar John Ritter – until one memorable day.
"I hadn’t talked to John in 20 or 30 years, and then one day, I got a call, and he said, 'Hey babe, I forgive you.'
I thought, 'You forgive me?' I'm the one who was fired and lost my job.
But then I decided to put on my big girl pants. So I said, 'Thank you.' And that was a hard thank you because I realized he didn't even know what had really happened.
He told me he was doing a show called 8 Simple Rules, and he pitched an idea to me where his character has a nightmare, and Joyce and I were in it.
After all these years, I told him I didn’t want to come back as his nightmare. So we agreed to work on something else together down the line.
Then he died one week later."
Suzanne Somers has died of breast cancer, at the age of 76.