/ 30 March 2001

Doctor’s company not wanted

Los angeles – Actress and fitness pitchwoman Suzanne Somers says she is being treated for breast cancer and is undergoing homeopathic treatment against the will of her doctors.

The 54-year-old Somers, star of the 1970s television comedy Three’s Company, also said on CNN’s Larry King Live on Wednesday night she has undergone liposuction to deal with the effects of the disease.

Somers, preparing to release a fitness book, Eat, Cheat and Melt the Fat Away, made the admission in response to a National Enquirer report two weeks ago that she had undergone liposuction at a Beverly Hills clinic.

The Enquirer said she had undergone liposuction to have “fat suctioned from her inner and outer thighs, abdomen, hips, and upper back behind the armpits.”

Asked on the show why she had not admitted the cancer beforehand, Somers, fighting back tears, said, “because I’m not far away from it yet. I’m not even a year away from it.”

Somers said her doctors disagree with her choice of treatment. “This is what I’m doing for me,” she said. “I’m not telling anyone else to do this.”

She added, “I really feel that I’m licking this.”