Somers, who jiggled her way to superstardom as ditzy roommate Chrissy Snow on the 1970s sitcom, made the admission Wednesday night on CNN's Larry King Live, during an appearance that was supposed to tout her new cookbook.
She revealed she had part of her breast removed after a tumor was found last year during an annual mammogram, and underwent radiation treatment. However, against the advice of her doctors, she decided to skip chemotherapy and instead go with a homeopathic treatment.
Somers, 54, said she decided to make the announcement in response to a story that ran in the National Enquirer two weeks ago. The supermarket tab reported the Thighmastered fitness maven went to a Beverly Hills clinic to have "fat suctioned from her inner and outer thighs, abdomen, hips, and upper back behind the armpits."
The former pinup and sometime E! personality explained how she felt "disfigured" by the disease and the partial mastectomy and that's why she sought liposuction. "It was just to even some things out," she said. She said she felt it was "humiliating" that people would question the reason for her liposuction.
When King asked why she had waited to disclose her cancer battle, the teary actress said, "I'm not even a year away from it...Each day it is like a stab in my heart. I just wanted to get far enough away from it."
As for her long-term prognosis, Somers said, "I really feel that I'm licking this."