Suzanne Somers was born Suzanne Marie Mahoney on October 16, 1946 in San Bruno, California. She was active in her school's theatre program and won a music scholarship to college, but became pregnant after six months. She married the baby's father, but the marriage lasted only a few years. Somers turned to modeling to support herself and her son. In 1968, she won a job as a prize model on a game show hosted by her future husband, Alan Hamel. In the early 1970s, she landed minor roles in film and TV and won a role on the series Three's Company. After being fired from the show she headed to Las Vegas, where she performed in the mid 1980s. In 1986, she began writing her autobiography, Keeping… Secrets, which was later made into a TV movie. In 1991, Somers landed the role of Carol Foster on the TV series Step by Step. She then co-hosted Candid Camera from 1997 to 1999. She created the Suzanne Somers Institute for the Effects of Addictions on the Family, for which she is founder and director, and has written several books. Her title I'm Too Young for This!: The Natural Hormone Solution to Enjoy Perimenopause made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2013.