What 5 of the Best ‘Step by Step’ Stars Are Up to in 2025

It’s been 34 years since Step by Step premiered on ABC. Over seven seasons between ABC and CBS, fans fell in love with the modern Brady Brunch.

Initially part of ABC’s beloved 1990s TGIF lineup, the show starred Suzanne Somers and Patrick Duffy as “second time around” newlyweds blending a family of six kids and the chaos that ensues with it. PEOPLE reviewed the show in 1991 and praised it for its “precocious one-liners,” adding the stars were “settling into an easy rhythm, and the show has spunk and a snappy pace.”

The stars of the show reunited at 90s Con in 2024 and discussed fond memories filming. They remain close friends. Here’s an update on some of the show’s stars.

Patrick Duffy as Frank Lambert

Patrick Duffy played dad Frank Lambert on the show. He’d transitioned in the role after being on a dramatic soap opera. “I was ready for a comedy,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2022 of the seven season gig. “We found our footing and it was … the best job I ever had.”

Now in his 70’s, he shares two children with wife, ballerina Carlyn Rosser, who died in 2017. He began dating Happy Days actress Linda Purl three years after his wife’s passing. Duffy has continued acting, starring in shows like NCIS and All Rise. He’s also starred in a number of television holiday films.

Suzanne Somers as Carol Foster Lambert

Somers previously starred on Three’s Company and She’s the Sheriff before becoming one of television’s favorite sitcom moms. She told PEOPLE she was attracted to the role because it hit close to home. “I’ve lived this life. I married Alan Hamel and he had two children, and I had one child from another marriage. My son didn’t like his kids, and his kids didn’t like me. Guilt is a major factor in combined marriages because you see your kids not happy, and you try to accommodate them, but that’s dangerous for the marriage. It wasn’t until Alan and I became a united front and said to the kids, ‘You’re not going to break us up, so learn to live with this situation,’ that things improved.”

After the show, she became a lifestyle guru of sorts, known for her skincare line, recipes, and healthy lifestyle. She died in 2023 after suffering from breast cancer for 23 years.

Staci Keanan as Dana Foster

She stared as Dana, the eldest Foster child on the show. She previously starred on My Two Dads and Going Places. She took a backseat to Hollywood, opting to complete her education and graduated from UCLA in 2002 and earned her law degree from Southwestern Law School in 2013. She served as the Deputy District Attorney at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and is now a law professor herself. In her spare time, she co-hosts a Step by Step podcast alongside her co-star, in which she is watching the series for the very first time.

Sasha Mitchell as Cody Lambert

In a 2021 interview, he called the experience filming the show “a blast.” But he ran into some legal trouble amid filming the sitcom. In April of 1995, Mitchell was charged with two counts of battery, one count of spousal abuse and one count of child endangerment for hitting his wife, resulting in a 30 day sentence that didn’t comply with. He was ordered back to jail in 1996 and eventually written off the show. He eventually settled into life as a trained kickboxer. 

Angela Watson as Karen Foster

Watson traded in modeling and pageants for acting and started off in commercials before being cast as Step by Step. But had a tough time after. According to a chat on Christine Lakin’s podcast in 2020, via The Sun, she was allegedly manipulated by someone she called a production partner whom she said “brainwashed” her and isolated her from loved ones. That experience led her to work on CAST (Child Actors Supporting Themselves) “to coordinate accountants, investigators and attorneys for child performers needing help,” per a website for the organization.