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Synopsis
2 cassettes / 3 hours
Read by the Author
Listen to Suzanne Somers tell her remarkable story:
In this moving and inspiring follow-up to her New York Times best-selling memoir, Keeping Secrets, Suzanne Somers revisits her years before and after Three's Company and reveals with fearless self-examination how the dizzying rise and fall of her television career mirrored the chaos and conflict in her personal life.
With her usual candor and perspective, Suzanne takes listeners inside the rehearsal hall of Three's
Company and offers a never-before-seen look at the competition, jealousy, and greed that accompanies a hit TV show.
As the lovable Chrissy Snow, Suzanne Somers became the toast of Hollywood, with all its glittery perks. Yet all was not perfect, she confesses. Simultaneously, her professional success and her relationship with her husband, the love of a lifetime, were being sorely tested as they attempted to blend their families together and were forced to deal with the anger and resentment of their mutual children.
When she became the first female star to ask for the same pay as male television stars, Suzanne was fired from Three's Company and the once-welcoming doors to the most powerful offices in Hollywood slammed shut. For the better part of the next decade, she was unofficially blackballed from television because of this incident.
In this insightful memoir, Suzanne tells all, from the heady days of stardom to her fall from grace and the grief that followed, to her eventual resurrection as an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and, once again, beloved TV star. Every listener who's ever experienced loss or felt a great opportunity slip through his or her fingers can relate to Suzanne's story of how she fought back, won control over her own destiny, and learned lessons along the journey.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Suzanne Somers is the star of the long-running sitcom Step by Step; a popular Las Vegas entertainer who was voted Entertainer of the Year in 1986; and author of four previous books, including Keeping Secrets, her best-selling memoir about her childhood and the effects of her father's alcoholism on her family, and the best-seller Suzanne Somers' Eat Great, Lose Weight.
A sought-after lecturer on the topic of addiction and recovery, she is also the owner of the successful line of ThighMaster fitness products, the Suzanne Somers Jewelry Collection on the Home Shopping Network, and founder and president of the Suzanne Somers Institute for the Effects of Addictions on Families. She and her husband live in Malibu, California.
From the Back Cover
What could be worse than losing the number one television show in America? Not losing it. Had I continued playing Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, the humongous hit TV show, I would not be the Suzanne I am today--a person I am happy to be.
I had been moving full speed in America's fast lane. Life was great. Nothing could stop me now, I thought. Money was plentiful; work was coming at me like bullets on an artillery range. I could pick and choose. I was dancing in the big time.
Then one day while my life was "speeding along the highway," someone opened the back door of the car and kicked me out. Suddenly I found myself sitting on the side of the road all alone, watching a cloud of dust as the car sped on without me.
--From the Introduction
From the Inside Flap
/ 3 hours<br>Read by the Author<br><br>Listen to Suzanne Somers tell her remarkable story:<br><br>In this moving and inspiring follow-up to her <i>New York Times</i> best-selling memoir, <i>Keeping Secrets</i>, Suzanne Somers revisits her years before and after <i>Three's Company</i> and reveals with fearless self-examination how the dizzying rise and fall of her television career mirrored the chaos and conflict in her personal life. <br><br>With her usual candor and perspective, Suzanne takes listeners inside the rehearsal hall of <i>Three's <br>Company</i> and offers a never-before-seen look at the competition, jealousy, and greed that accompanies a hit TV show. <br><br>As the lovable Chrissy Snow, Suzanne Somers became the toast of Hollywood, with all its glittery perks. Yet all was not perfect, she confesses. Simultaneously, her professional success and her relationship with her husband, the love of a lifetime, were being sorely test
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
What could be worse than losing the number one show in America? Answer: Not losing it. Had I continued playing Chrissy Snow on "THREE'S COMPANY," the humongous hit TV show, I would not be the Suzanne I am today--a person I am happy to be.
I had been moving full speed in America's fast lane. Life was great. Nothing could stop me now, I thought. Money was plentiful; work was coming at me like bullets on an artillery range. I could pick and choose. I was dancing in the big time.
Then one day while my life was "speeding along that highway," someone opened the back door of the car and kicked me out. Suddenly, I found myself sitting on the side of the road all alone, watching a cloud of dust as the car sped on without me.
Celebrity is an incredible gift, an opportunity of a lifetime. There's nothing like it. When fame came to me, it was like a drug, an ongoing incredible high. People called me "Miss Somers;" crowded restaurants magically had the best table available "Come right this way, Miss Somers," I would hear; theater tickets were no problem, nor were hotel reservations or hair appointments. Crowded doctors' offices could always fit me in for an appointment when it was convenient for me. There was no waiting in lines for movies or sitting in crowded airport lounges. Pre-boarding was the new and luxurious experience--a chance to get settled in before the "civilians" were allowed on the plane. I no longer even needed to carry a purse. Somehow, somewhere, magically, someone would appear to take care of my needs. Runners, go-fors were a new part of my life; "No problem, Miss Somers. I can get it for you. Anythingmy favorite soup or the La Scala chopped salad, which I lovewould be fetched and brought to me. Make-up people hovered to powder my nose, fix my lipstick, add more blush. Hairdressersteasing, spraying, adjusting. Anything I wanted or needed was responded to with a resounding "Yes, Miss Somers! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Nothing was a problem because I was earning money for the network, and lots of it. A hit TV show is big business with multi-million dollar bonanzas. Keep the star happy. Don't mess with success. Thats why studios would accommodate Elizabeth Taylor's demands for chili from Chasens restaurant in L.A.no matter where in the world she traveled. They'd march it up the Himalayas if that would keep her happy. Elizabeth Taylor sells tickets. Never say no to the star because if the star walks, the project can fall apart. And the more popular the star, the more their demands are met.
I didn't ask for any of this special treatment. It just came to me and intensified with each new magazine cover or important television appearance. When you're hot in TV, your busiest times are "sweeps weeks." That is when the networks put out their best product because advertisers buy time according to Nielsen ratings, which are measured during sweeps weeks. The higher the ratings, the higher the advertising revenues; and subsequently, the higher the revenues, the higher the profits for the networks. When you are the hot star, everyone wants you on their show, because you will bring in viewers which, in turn, brings in profits.
Once you are famous, you don't have to evolve as a person. It's not necessary or important that you read or think or make corrections in your personality. Nobody cares! Just keep the profits rolling in. There's no need to move yourself forward spiritually and emotionally.
But growth is the greatest gift we can give ourselves as human beingsto constantly evolve, to be the best people we can be, to tune into our feelings and face ourselves in all our nakedness and truly look at who we are. It is our opportunity to change and grow.
If I hadn't been dumped from the number one show in America. I might have successfully continued doing sitcom after sitcom and being "Yessed" to death. Instead I was forced to come back to earth and look at myself from the vantage point of having "been there" and having lost it.
As quickly as it all came, it was over. I was no longer America's darling. Suddenly, I wasn't bringing in any profits; and when you don't bring in profits, the doors slam shut. The "friends" I had made along the way were suddenly too busy to see me. The open doors of the network executives closed in my face. The champagne and scripts stopped arriving. The party invitations dried up. I was moved way down the alphabet from the "A List."
I felt ostracized, hurt and shut out, disappointed that I believed I had been making "real" relationships. I had not understood that the invitations, the champagne, the scripts, the dinner invites, the open doors, and the friends were about business. This is the way it's done in Hollywood. The line between business and friendship is deliberately blurred. The pros, the ones who endure, understand this. It's the naive ones like myself, the new "hot" ones on the block, who get it confused and take it personally.
Today, twenty years later, I am grateful. If I hadn't lost everything, I never would have had to do the work to bring myself back. I'm not talking about success anymore, although that came with it. I'm talking about the emotional work that helped me find the self-esteem to be the person I am today. It's an ongoing journey which has brought, and continues to bring me, peace of mind, serenity and happiness with myself and the new life I have created.
As always, to explain where I am today, its necessary to tell you where Ive been.
Today I see all negatives as opportunities. Everything that has happened to me has been a lesson. A wasted life is one in which lessons go unheeded. People who live such lives are the people who give up, who choose to be victims.
I didnt give up. I am not a victim, and that is my proudest achievements.
From the Hardcover edition.
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