Sally Struthers is airing out all the (alleged) dirty laundry about deceased former colleagues Betty White and All in the Family creator Norman Lear, including that she was “totally fat-shamed” by the former.
Struthers appeared on the Let’s Talk About That! With Larry Saperstein And Jacob Bellotti podcast this week, saying she found White to be an even better actress than people realise because, in reality, she wasn’t all that sweet.
Struthers said she “didn’t have such a great experience” with the Golden Girls star, who was 99 when she died at the end of 2021, and found her to be a “very passive-aggressive woman.”
“I know everybody loves her. They loved her so much,” said the Gilmore Girls alum.
Struthers recalled being at White’s house when they were working on a game show pilot and reaching for one of the cookies brought out by White’s housekeeper.
“She said in front of everyone, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you dear, you don’t need a cookie,'” Struthers said. “Totally fat-shamed me in front of the rest of the people in the room.”
The interaction left a bad impression on Struthers, who afterwards thought to herself, “Gosh, that’s not nice.”
As for sitcom legend Lear – who died in December 2023 at age 101 – Struthers said he stole the idea for All In The Family from Archie Bunker himself (actor Carroll O’Connor) and “pretended for the next 52 years that he created it.”
Struthers, who played Gloria in over 180 episodes, won two Emmys for her work in the iconic 1970s sitcom.
She most recently appeared in the hit Netflix comedy series A Man On The Inside, which netted a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for star Ted Danson. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
