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Tag: Charlotte Rae

  • Charlotte Rae of ‘Facts of Life’ Shares Surprising Heartbreaks and Triumphs In New Memoir

    Charlotte Rae is best known as the stern Facts of Life girls’ school housemother, Edna Garrett, who helped guide the girls through the highs and lows of being a teen.

    Throughout it all, Rae’s character, Mrs. Garrett, was cool as a cucumber. In a new memoir, the 89-year-old actress says she begged the TV show’s producers to let her character “lose her temper, yell at the kids. Let her be a human being.” It didn’t happen.

    Rae shared that the show did not imitate life and she bore little resemblance to Edna Garrett. Instead, the challenges she faced in life, including an autistic son, Andy, and the late-in-life disclosure by her husband that he was bisexual and wanted an open marriage, left her a little lost and down a path of alcoholism and heart trouble.

    In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Rae said she wanted to write her memoir to others who are tackling their own difficulties and dreams and because her other son, Larry Strauss, a writer and teacher, told her she should.

    “He said, ‘Ma, I think it’s time we did your memoir. You talk to me and I’ll do it,’” she said. “He was very sensitive to what I was talking about and wonderful (writing about) his brother, very sensitive and beautiful.”

    The book titled The Facts of My Life will be released by BearManor Media on Nov. 1 and begins with the memory of her then 16-year-old son, Andy Strauss, being locked up in the juvenile ward at New York’s Bellevue Hospital because he’d been deemed dangerous. Andy eventually died of a heart attack in his mid-40s and Rae saw his illness as the “most devastating thing” in her life.

    Battling alcoholism and heart problems, Rae soon learned that her husband of 25 years was bisexual.

    “I felt there was something wrong with me and took it personally,” Rae said. “But I gradually realized what he was going through. My God, the poor guy, hiding it and being ashamed.”

    The pair divorced, and John Strauss died in 2011. Her had found “a nice Jewish man of his dreams,” but she has remained single.

    “Between the children and my career, I just didn’t have time. It didn’t happen,” Rae said. “There were people I had little flings with that were lovely, but nobody I wanted to marry.”

    Life is now calmer for Rae these days. Son Larry, his family and others keep her busy and content, she said.

    “I have wonderful friends. I’m not just a lonely old lady,” said Charlotte Rae.

  • Lisa Whelchel Reunites With Facts Of Life Co-Star

    Lisa Whelchel had lunch on Tuesday with her former co-star from The Facts of Life, Charlotte Rae. These two might be known to you children of the 80’s as Blair and Mrs. Garrett.

    Lisa Whelchel shared the moment with the world in the form of an Instagram selfie captioned with, “Selfie with Charlotte Rae today at lunch. She gave me some good advice. (Just like old times.:)”

    Those who know Lisa Whelchel only from her stint on Survivor Philippines are missing out on the nostalgic magic that was made here. Mrs. Garret was always the one that rich, spoiled Blair could go to for advice. Blair (Lisa Whelchel), along with fellow roomates Tootie (Kim Fields), Jo (Nancy McKeon) and Natalie (Mindy Cohn), were all supported, loved and inspired to good deeds by Mrs. Garrett.

    So was a wide TV audience of kids who learned many a life lesson at the knee of the kind and big-hearted lady.

    Lisa Whelchel has said that one of her biggest struggles while doing the show was her body image.

    “The biggest fact of life I wish I knew while on the show is to be a little proud of being a little heavier than the typical girls on TV.”, LisaWhelchel said in a recent interview.

    “Because it gave the opportunity to give the girls who watched the show a point of reference for a reality of what girls look like and accept themselves at a normal weight.”

    Body image has been a struggle for most girls, but seeing the normally proportioned young women on the show probably helped many in the audience be okay with the way they were.

    Man, do I miss shows like The Facts of Life! Do you?

    Image via Instagram

  • Lisa Whelchel Reunites with ‘Facts of Life’ Costar

    It’s really nice to see The Facts of Life costars Lisa Whelchel and Charlotte Rae reunited once again.

    The two posed for a selfie on Tuesday while out on a lunch date together.

    “Selfie with Charlotte Rae today at lunch. She gave me some good advice. (Just like old times),” wrote Welcher in the caption.

    Welchel played spoiled rich kid Blair Warner on the beloved ’80s sitcom, while Rae played house mom Mrs. (Edna) Garrett on the series.

    Rae left the series in 1986, but was reunited with the rest of the cast in the 2001 TV movie The Facts of Life Reunion. Cloris Leachman stepped in to replace Rae playing Edna’s weird sister, Beverly Ann Stickle.

    Time certainly flies as Welchel is now 51 and Rae is still beautiful at 88, and they both continue to stay busy in Hollywood.

    Rae will appear in an episode on Girl Meets World and Whelchel, who recently appeared on Survivor, will star alongside another Facts of Life costar, Kim Fields (Tootie), in For Better or For Worse on Hallmark Channel.

    Image via YouTube