FILE - Actor Suzanne Somers is photographed at the Lowell Hotel in New York on June 30, 2005. Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company,” as well as her business endeavors, died early Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist R. Couri Hay. She was 76. (AP Photo/Jim Cooper, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, has died. She was 76.

Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs, California.

In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.

She was first diagnosed in 2000, and had previously battled skin cancer. Somers faced some backlash for her reliance on what she’s described as a chemical-free and organic lifestyle to combat the cancers. She argued against the use of chemotherapy, in books and on platforms like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which drew criticism from the American Cancer Society.

Her most famous rolecame with “Three’s Company,” which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 — though her participation ended in 1981.

On “Three’s Company,” she was the ditzy blonde opposite John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the roommate comedy.

In 1980, she asked for a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode, which would have been comparable to what Ritter was getting paid.

She was promptly phased out and soon fired.

But Somers took the break as an opportunity to pursue new avenues, including a Las Vegas act, and hosting a talk show. In the 1990s, she also became the spokesperson for the “ThighMaster.