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After the Fall: How I Picked Myself Up, Dusted Myself Off, and Started All Over Again
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 readers 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 reader 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.
With her usual candor and perspective, Suzanne takes readers 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 reader 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.
308 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Suzanne Somers
69 books113 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Suzanne Somers was an American actress, author, and businesswoman. Best known for her role as the ditzy blonde Chrissy Snow on the ABC sitcom Three's Company, she also had a noted starring role on the sitcom Step by Step as Carol Foster Lambert. She later capitalized on her acting career by also establishing herself as an author of a series of self-help books. She had released two autobiographies, two self-help books, four diet books, and a book about hormone replacement therapy. She had featured items of her design on the Home Shopping Network.
Suzanne Somers was an American actress, author, and businesswoman. Best known for her role as the ditzy blonde Chrissy Snow on the ABC sitcom Three's Company, she also had a noted starring role on the sitcom Step by Step as Carol Foster Lambert. She later capitalized on her acting career by also establishing herself as an author of a series of self-help books. She had released two autobiographies, two self-help books, four diet books, and a book about hormone replacement therapy. She had featured items of her design on the Home Shopping Network.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 23, 2017
I enjoyed this though it wasn't as good as her first memoir, Keeping Secrets. If you haven't read that one, this one will be slightly confusing as she doesn't give a whole lot of detail about her past since that was covered in great detail ten years before in Keeping Secrets. This one was mostly about her relationships with her stepchildren and her husband's dislike of her son, which seems to have stemmed from jealousy. She discusses the work she's done since Three's Company, both theater and television. It was well-written and honest, painfully so. I must say I don't like Alan one bit and feel he's reaped the benefits of her success the whole time he's known her. I don't feel she ever had to start all over again because during Three's Company she did some television movies and headlined her own show and once Three's Company was over for her she just continued on with the same stuff.
I like Suzanne a lot and believe her 100% regarding what she had to say about being fired from Three's Company in 1980. She has nothing at all to gain by lying. She seems like a genuinely nice, caring person with a good heart who's put up with an overbearing husband for most of her adult life.
It would be nice if both her memoirs were reissued, especially this one, with an update since this is nineteen years old.
I like Suzanne a lot and believe her 100% regarding what she had to say about being fired from Three's Company in 1980. She has nothing at all to gain by lying. She seems like a genuinely nice, caring person with a good heart who's put up with an overbearing husband for most of her adult life.
It would be nice if both her memoirs were reissued, especially this one, with an update since this is nineteen years old.
June 12, 2013
Somers tries her hardest to make herself look good in this book, blaming everyone else for most of her problems, but ends up only making herself look really bad. She comes off as an unrelatable, unlikeable, uncaring person who (even though she claims her heart bleeds for others) was more interested in her own happiness than taking responsibility for the bad choices she made.
The irony is that at the start of the book she claims that she is going to accept blame, saying, "I am not a victim." Then the rest of the book she talks about how victimized she was by her father, her husband, her stepchildren, her manager, her network executives, etc. The underlying fact always remains that she allows them to get away with what they do; she made the choices, gave them permission to do what they did or looked the other way, and signed the legal papers and went along with the money-grubbing schemes that caused her "fall." By the time she became a star in her 30s she was not the innocent pregnant out-of-wedlock teen any longer, yet she portrays herself as a naive woman who is too trusting. In truth she made selfish choices that she admits wishing she could do over.
This is a woman of limited talent and almost no acting experience who somehow thought she was an A-lister simply because she was on a hit TV show. She claims Three's Company was the "number one show on TV" a couple dozen times in the book but that doesn't make it true. (Sorry--Wikipedia has it wrong as well. In 1979-80 60 Minutes actually was #1 in total homes, Three's Company was #2.) And her claim that it was an instant #1 show is completely made up. The rest of the book follows suit, with her talking about how successful she was, ignoring the fact that she was the bimbo of the year and then faded quickly, making some really bad career moves.
She throws a lot of people under the bus to make herself look good. I'd be shocked if her stepchildren spoke to her again after this book came out because she makes them look pretty bad. She doesn't let her husband off the hook either. It is refreshing that she admits that divorce is a terrible thing and that parents should be involved in their children's lives, but she doesn't do herself favors by talking about how much she ignored her own son in order to work, missed key events in his life, and then sent him off to boarding school starting in 8th grade! While she talks the talk she doesn't walk the walk.
This "autobiography" ends up being more of a PR piece fashioned to respond to all the critics over the years. She puts the brunt of the blame on her manager Jay Bernstein, who she allowed to influence her into making an exclusive deal with CBS during her third season on ABC's Three's Company! The reason? The original sitcom deal was made by her previous manager and Bernstein didn't profit from the hit ABC show, so he convinced her to do movies and future series with CBS, where he would collect at least 10% of her earnings. And she went along with it, killing her relationship with ABC even though she starred in one of the network's biggest series.
The woman believes she is "telling my story honestly" and compares herself to...Mary Magdalene. That's right! "She was a sinner who was so bad she washed Christ's feet with her tears...Figuratively, I wanted to wash my feet with my tears." Huh? It's nice that she sees the need for forgiveness but she's comparing herself to Christ as well and saying she wants to wash her own feet to clean up her image? That's exactly what this book is all about.
The irony is that at the start of the book she claims that she is going to accept blame, saying, "I am not a victim." Then the rest of the book she talks about how victimized she was by her father, her husband, her stepchildren, her manager, her network executives, etc. The underlying fact always remains that she allows them to get away with what they do; she made the choices, gave them permission to do what they did or looked the other way, and signed the legal papers and went along with the money-grubbing schemes that caused her "fall." By the time she became a star in her 30s she was not the innocent pregnant out-of-wedlock teen any longer, yet she portrays herself as a naive woman who is too trusting. In truth she made selfish choices that she admits wishing she could do over.
This is a woman of limited talent and almost no acting experience who somehow thought she was an A-lister simply because she was on a hit TV show. She claims Three's Company was the "number one show on TV" a couple dozen times in the book but that doesn't make it true. (Sorry--Wikipedia has it wrong as well. In 1979-80 60 Minutes actually was #1 in total homes, Three's Company was #2.) And her claim that it was an instant #1 show is completely made up. The rest of the book follows suit, with her talking about how successful she was, ignoring the fact that she was the bimbo of the year and then faded quickly, making some really bad career moves.
She throws a lot of people under the bus to make herself look good. I'd be shocked if her stepchildren spoke to her again after this book came out because she makes them look pretty bad. She doesn't let her husband off the hook either. It is refreshing that she admits that divorce is a terrible thing and that parents should be involved in their children's lives, but she doesn't do herself favors by talking about how much she ignored her own son in order to work, missed key events in his life, and then sent him off to boarding school starting in 8th grade! While she talks the talk she doesn't walk the walk.
This "autobiography" ends up being more of a PR piece fashioned to respond to all the critics over the years. She puts the brunt of the blame on her manager Jay Bernstein, who she allowed to influence her into making an exclusive deal with CBS during her third season on ABC's Three's Company! The reason? The original sitcom deal was made by her previous manager and Bernstein didn't profit from the hit ABC show, so he convinced her to do movies and future series with CBS, where he would collect at least 10% of her earnings. And she went along with it, killing her relationship with ABC even though she starred in one of the network's biggest series.
The woman believes she is "telling my story honestly" and compares herself to...Mary Magdalene. That's right! "She was a sinner who was so bad she washed Christ's feet with her tears...Figuratively, I wanted to wash my feet with my tears." Huh? It's nice that she sees the need for forgiveness but she's comparing herself to Christ as well and saying she wants to wash her own feet to clean up her image? That's exactly what this book is all about.
June 2, 2025
Both of Suzanne’s books I’ve read over the past few weeks have made me fall completely in love with her and her character. what a brave, vulnerable, and honest person she was. Truly a beautiful rare soul.
January 9, 2009
excellent memoir, very well written, I enjoyed it very much.
Read
August 19, 2010Another research book!
May 19, 2015
3 stars - Borrow it.
January 19, 2016
Very interesting woman. Good book.
October 19, 2017
I love Suzanne!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews