Mama's Family star Vicki Lawrence is opening up about her one-time falling out with Carol Burnett and their enduring friendship over the years.
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The two started off strong, starring together on The Carol Burnett Show for 11 seasons. But the longtime friends ended up suffering a falling out while filming Mama's Family. Now, Lawrence says that their friendship is stronger than it's ever been.
"I'm glad we are so close now," Lawrence said. "We're closer than we ever have been, really."
Lawrence said that Burnett's personal problems started to strain her friendship and relationship with castmates on the show. Burnett was going through a nasty divorce at the time and distanced herself from her castmates.
Vicki Lawrence On Carol Burnett
"She went through a horrible divorce," Lawrence recalled. "So, it was almost ... for a while there, it was almost like she divorced all of us who were involved with [Hamilton] at all. I know it was tough for her. She spent a long time ..."
Lawrence said that Burnett didn't show any interest in talking to her. Instead, she wanted to talk to her husband, who worked as a makeup artist.
"She talked to my husband one night," the actress continued. "She called — it was early in the Mama's Family run. I was making dinner. My son answered the phone, and she said, 'Can I talk to your dad?' And I said, 'Who is it?' And my son said, 'It's Carol.' I said, 'Does she want to talk to me?' And he said, 'No, she wants to talk to dad.' And it kind of broke my heart."
"But she did say to Al, my husband, 'I promise I'll be back. I promise.' and when she was back, she was fully back," Lawrence remembered. "But I know it was a really tough time for her. It was more sad than anything."
Lawrence says that she has learned a lot from the industry through working with Burnett. She described them as thick as thieves.
"I think the most important thing that I learned from Carol is how the business of show business should run," Lawrence said. "It should be fun, and if it's not fun, you're doing it wrong.
"It's gotten to be such a tough business," she added. "I was just so lucky to be raised on The Carol Burnett Show by the best teachers in the world. So, what happened to me just doesn't happen to anybody else."
