Suzanne Somers.Photo:Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Although she was best known for her role onThree’s Companyand her books — she penned over 25, and was aNew York Timesbest-selling author — the actress believed she would be remembered for her time serving as a spokeswoman for theThighMaster.
“Suzanne told me once, she said, ‘I think I’m going to be remembered for the ThighMaster. It’s going to be on my tombstone,’” her husbandAlan Hameltells PEOPLE.
In the 90s, Somers advertised the ThighMasters exercise equipment in a series of iconic commercials. She detailed how she came to invest in the product in a 2020 interview withEntrepreneurin 2020.
“I had bought this pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes that were at that time, 500 bucks. I was in my dressing room and thought, “Oh my husband is going to think this is so crazy spending this much money.' But for me, they were perfect,” she recalled. “So I walked out of my dressing room in my underwear and I said to my husband, “Like my new shoes?' And he said, “Great legs!' And I went, “Oh my God, that’s the commercial!' That’s how we started the commercial if you recall. We sold 10 million ThighMasters right out of the gate. It still sells to this day even though we don’t advertise.”
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She added, “I’ve written 27 books on health. I’ve done 16 or 18 years of series television, I’ve given lectures — and the thing I am best known for is the ThighMaster! I think it was the tagline: ‘You just put it between your knees and squeeze.’ It was the right product, the right place, the right timing, the right spokesperson — the right everything. It was a perfect storm.”
Last year, Somers opened upabout the financial successof her famous fitness device.
When asked on theHollywood Rawpodcast how much she has made from ThighMaster, the actress said, “I grew up poor. And I live a good life … $19.95 x 10 million, so kind of do the math. We’re probably at 15 million now.”
“Yeah but I spent a lot,” Somers joked in response. “You should see my clothes.”
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At the time, the actress said she owned the product “outright.”
“We had partners - 50/50 - and they got drunk on money when it all started selling,” she explained. “They overspent to the point where they could no longer afford to be in their side of the business so we bought them out. We have 100 percent.”
“Anybody can do it,” she said of her ThighMaster success. “People are always calling me and wanting to know ‘How do I this?’ You can’t decide to make money. You have to have a passion about whatever you’re selling. It has to be a fit. I can’t sell baseball bats. But I wanted to keep my legs looking great for those Manolo Blahnik shoes. So there was a weird, kind of strange, passion there.”
source: people.com
