Suzanne Somers Cause of Death Confirmed

There is more information emerging about Suzanne Somers' death. After battling an "aggressive form" of breast cancer for 23 years, the Three's Company actress died at age 76 on Oct. 15, her publicist R. Couri Hay previously shared in a statement. It has now been determined that Somers' cancer also spread to her brain, listing her cause of death in a death certificate obtained by The Blast on Oct. 26 as "breast cancer with metastasis to the brain." 

She also suffered from hypertension (high blood pressure) and hydrocephalus (fluid buildup in the brain), both of which she experienced for more than a year before her death. In the document, it is noted that a biopsy was conducted but not an autopsy. 

Somers' first health issues came when she was in her 20s, recalling that she "had cancer three times" while working on the sitcom Three's Company from 1977 to 1981. "They call it severe hyperplasia in your uterus," she told CBS News in 2020. "I didn't make a big deal about it." She was diagnosed with skin cancer after discovering "a malignant melanoma in my back" in her 30s. She began battling breast cancer in 2000.

On Oct. 15, Somers passed away in her California home surrounded by her immediate family, including her husband, Alan Hamel, and her son, Bruce Somers Jr. "We were in bed together, and her breathing was erratic, and I had been talking to her for hours," Hamel told NBC News on Oct. 16. "There was no response except when I kissed her, she responded, and then around 5 o'clock in the morning, she was gone."

Her husband said Somers had shown signs of improvement prior to her death while seeing specialists about her medical condition. "All of a sudden, she wasn't responding, and she wasn't eating, and she wasn't taking her meds," he continued. "As I know her so well, I thought, 'I wonder if I should call 911?' And I knew that she wouldn't want that and that she did not want to go to a hospital."

On Oct. 16, her family shared a video on her Instagram page of them singing in front of a pink heart cake with bright candles to commemorate her 77th birthday. "Thank you for the out-pouring of love and affection for Suzanne," the caption read. "So many of you have asked what you can do to support our family. The most comforting gesture for us is to hear how Suzanne affected all of your lives."