Joyce DeWitt, 74, rose to fame as the star of the cult television sitcom Three’s Company. After a decade in the profession, the actress chose to take an extended sabbatical from Hollywood when the program was canceled.

DeWitt is back in the industry after appearing in various television series and films. And, to this day, the 74-year-old looks exactly as good as he did decades ago!

So, what prompted Joyce DeWitt’s departure from Hollywood? And why didn’t she and her co-star, Suzanne Somers, talk for 30 years? This is all you need to know about her, including her last encounter with Three’s Company co-star John Ritter before his death.

Joyce DeWitt was born on April 23, 1949, in Wheeling, West Virginia. Her parents, Paul and Norma DeWitt, raised her as the second-eldest of four children, and she spent her youth in both West Virginia and Indiana.

Joyce DeWitt’s childhood
Joyce was always thinking about performing. In fact, she knew she wanted to perform even before she attended school.

“Growing up, I was a total movie buff, but I always wanted to play the roles played by Clark Gable or Spencer Tracy.” “I was never interested in the roles that women played,” she told Playbill. “I found the roles that the guys were playing to be far more interesting.”

“[Performing] was never a pastime. I hadn’t even started school yet, yet I already knew what I was going to do. Everyone, of course, laughed at me. I knew right away.”

Joyce DeWitt made her theatrical debut at the age of thirteen. It became her second home, and by then, she had developed a strong passion and love for performing. Joyce started taking acting classes while still in high school and then attended Ball State University, where she graduated in 1972. However, the aspiring actress was set on a life in New York, where she hoped to work in theater.

Like many other performers and actresses before her, “The Big Apple” was full of competition and could be a harsh environment for some. Joyce DeWitt discovered this when she arrived in New York and struggled. She had always wanted to work on Broadway, but she recognized that it would have to be postponed.

Instead, after completing her undergraduate studies, she worked a summer stock season in Chicago before moving to the west coast to attend graduate school at UCLA.

In ‘Three’s Company,’ she played Janet Woods.
DeWitt remained committed to coming to New York City and pursuing her ambition of working on Broadway. But life had different ideas for her.

After completing her Master of Fine Arts at UCLA, she was cast in the film Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. DeWitt was finally free, and it wasn’t long until her big break was there in front of her.

Joyce DeWitt soon found herself in the casting room for the pilot of Three’s Company, a new television comedy series. She had no clue at the time that it would become a cult series or that it would be the start of a new life for DeWitt.

DeWitt rose to prominence as Janet Wood, along with John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. Between 1976 and 1984, she appeared in 171 episodes of the program.

“It was a wonderful gift.” It was, after all, iconic. But who would have guessed?” Joyce DeWitt revealed to The Spec “All we wanted to do was make people laugh.” When I think about it, the program was essentially an effort to recreate a 16th-century comedy in the modern day. It was all about letting your imagination run free. We were discussing serious matters at times, but it was always someplace under the surface.”

“John Ritter used to say, ‘We don’t want people to laugh; we want them to fall over laughing,'” she continued. “The real issue was always the depth of friendship and love between those characters.” That’s what brought folks in.”

Joyce DeWitt left Hollywood after ‘Three’s Company’ for 12 years.
Three’s Company was terminated in 1984. The program received one Primetime Emmy and made the cast famous. However, Joyce DeWitt was not the one who was upset when it was shut down.

In fact, after eight years on the program, she thought it was the right time to go.

“It was time,” she said. “I was prepared for peace and quiet. I enjoyed being Janet, but she was never the only reason I got out of bed in the morning. My identity and self-worth were not entwined with her, and it showed.”

“Of course, there is a time of loneliness. “I missed the characters as much as the actors did,” she continued. “But I’m essentially a hermit.” My natural tendency is to retreat inside the cave and think, not to yell outdoors. ‘Oh, I have a gregarious side, but I also have an inner Joyce.'”

Joyce DeWitt had only appeared in a few plays at the time, with Three’s Company being her principal role for many years. So one would assume that because she was just starting out as an actor, she’d be open to additional work.

Joyce, on the other hand, did the exact opposite. She didn’t like being famous, and at first, the actress was merely intending to take a break. But she vanished for more than a decade, something she has no regrets about.

“Regrets may be hazardous. “I am very fortunate in that I have only twice in my life regretted something, and both times it was 10 or 15 years later,” she told GayCalgary in 2009.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play it.”
“I couldn’t change it if I had to do it all over again.” I planned to take six months off simply to relax. I watched Hollywood and how it acted, and it was not a natural moral ethic to me. If this is how the game is played, I’m not sure I want to play it. I took some time off and began meeting and learning with various spiritual masters from all around the globe. “I expected it to be six months, not 12 years.”

Joyce DeWitt returned to the cinema in 1995, making small appearances in the television shows Cybill and Hope Island, as well as in a few films.

Even after a decade, people recognized her and complimented her on her performance in Three’s Company. It was discovered that she, as Janet Woods, had impacted people’s lives.

“I’ve had women in their 30s come to me and say you inspired me to become a lawyer,” DeWitt added. “I knew women might be intelligent and successful in the world. “And  I like playing Janet, and I worked hard to portray her the way I wanted to.”

She enjoyed collaborating with John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. However, Somers departed the program in 1980 because she was not paid equally with her male co-star, John Ritter.

“They painted me as if she was trying to ruin the show,” Somers said in 2020. “So, I never talked to anybody on that show ever again. “Never, ever again.”

Joyce DeWitt recounted spending yesterday night with John Ritter before his death.
DeWitt and Somers lost touch, and it took more than 30 years for them to speak again. Joyce appeared on Suzanne’s talk program, and the reunion in 2012 was memorable.

“We had very different approaches to our careers,” DeWitt said of her and Somers’ friendship after the program. “We had completely different requirements. I didn’t have any children to support on my own. Because I didn’t have a business mind, I couldn’t comprehend someone who did.”

Joyce DeWitt’s connection with co-star John Ritter, on the other hand, remained strong. Ritter continued to misbehave until his death in September 2003. According to sources, his abrupt death was caused by an undiscovered heart defect known as an aortic dissection.

DeWitt reminisced about the last time she saw her former co-star on Somers’ talk program.

Ritter slept at a hotel near her in New York City, and DeWitt justified it to herself as destiny. She contacted his hotel room and left him a message; he returned her call seconds later.

“As I’m walking out the door, the phone rings, and I pick it up, and it’s Johnathan,” she said. “‘Baby, we’ve got three parties and a dinner to do tonight,’ he says. “I’ll pick you up at 7 p.m.” It was very excellent, and he died a month later.”

Joyce had one huge ambition that she still pursued, even if she returned to the screen after a decade away.

In 2011, she made her stage debut.
DeWitt has always wanted to work in theater, and her dream came true in 2011 when she made her theatrical debut in New York City.

Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating, and Marriage was an off-Broadway production, but that didn’t matter to DeWitt. Also, with the shoot being a 90-minute comedy, she thought it was quite comparable to her performance in Three’s Company.

“I’m just a late bloomer,” she said, according to the San Diego Tribune. “It took a long time for me to have confidence in my work.”

“[The show] allows us to play and be silly and funny and laugh about human interactions,” adds DeWitt. “My favorite kind of play to do is one in which the goal is to make people laugh and have a good time while occasionally touching their hearts.”

DeWitt worked on various projects after that, including the movies Snapshot (2014), Rock Story (2015), and The Savant (2018).

In 2018, she was cast in the stage production of Scattered, Smothered, and Covered Christmas, which was set at a Waffle House. Because of the epidemic, it was shown on YouTube in December 2020.

Joyce DeWitt’s current family, children, and net worth
“We’re offering this play for free this Christmas because it has a message that needs to be shared in this very difficult circumstance we’re in,” Joyce DeWitt said. It is a magical journey of love and truth that the entire world should enjoy.

Joyce DeWitt has no children and has never been married, according to sources. The most important thing is that she seems to be doing well and is still enjoying her profession on screen and on stage.

Joyce DeWitt has a net worth of roughly $4 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

So, what is she most proud of in her professional life? The answer isn’t all that surprising.

“I don’t know if there is a proudest moment, but if asked, it would have to be being a part of Three’s Company, and that’s an easy one to say because if as an actor you are given the opportunity to create joy and laughter in the world — that’s a great gift,” Joyce DeWitt said.

“Every actor would say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for this part.'” And if it’s still doing it after 30 years, That’s basically a dream you can’t even make up. You can’t even think about it. It simply appears in your life.”

DeWitt, who is 74 years old, does not seem to be retiring from acting anytime soon. But she still looks beautiful to this day!

We wish her the best of luck in the future. If you like Three’s Company, please share this article with your friends and family.