Carol Burnett is opening up about the uplifting life lesson she learned from her late daughter, Carrie.
The legendary funny lady, 87, revealed inAARP the Magazine's August and September 2020 issue that Carrie, who overcame drug addiction two decades before she died of pneumonia as a complication of lung cancer, was determined to live each day of her life to the fullest.
"My daughter Carrie got into drugs. In that situation, don’t be their best friend. When we got her into a third rehab, oh, she hated my guts! You have to love them enough to let them hate you," Burnett recalled.
Carrie, who was 38 when she died in January 2002, "got sober before her 18th birthday, and we had a good 20 years — we were joined at the hip for a while there," she continued. "Carrie died of cancer at 38. But in the hospital she said, 'Every day I wake up and decide today I’m going to love my life.' And that was her mantra."
Burnett, who shared Carrie with ex-husband Joe Hamilton, also opened up about the enduring appeal of "The Carol Burnett Show," which originally aired from 1967 to 1978 on CBS, and again for several episodes in 1991. "If someone had told me 52 years ago that our little show would be viable today, I would have said, 'You’re crazy!' But it’s held up because we were never that topical — we just went for the laugh," said the star.
The six-time Emmy winner shows off her more serious side in the Netflix drama "All Together Now," debuting Aug. 28. The movie, which also features "One Day at a Time" star Justina Machado, former "Saturday Night Live" star Fred Armisen, and "Rise" actress Auliʻi Cravalho, was filmed late last year.
For now, Burnett and her husband of nearly two decades, musician Brian Miller, are staying at home — and missing loved ones — amid the coronavirus pandemic. "My heart goes out to people who are ill or lost their job — it's just mind boggling. So I can't complain. I'm safe. I've got my husband, a home, and food on the table. We do crossword puzzles, play Scrabble and watch old movies," she said.
"But I miss seeing my kids, my grandchild and my friends, and when all this is over, I just want to throw a great big hugging party."