Somers Battles Cancer

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/21/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Ex-"Three's Company" star and Thighmaster pitchwoman Suzanne Somers, 54, told CNN interviewer Larry King on Wednesday that she has breast cancer and is being treated for it through homeopathic means, against the will of her doctors. "I just never thought it would happen to me," said Somers, who admitted that she was shunning traditional chemotherapy in favor of a little-tested drug that requires injections into her stomach. Her treatment is expected to last five years, she said. "I really feel I'm licking this." Somers added that she will continue to get a mammogram every three months. She also admitted that she has had liposuction, because she felt "disfigured" by the cancer's effects. "It was just to even some things out," she said without further elaboration. "I've worked hard to have a nice body at this age," she told King. She also said that she had kept quiet about her condition before because she didn't feel she was ready to discuss it publicly. "Each day it is like a stab in my heart," she said. "I just wanted to get far enough away from it."