Sally Struthers talks trash about Betty White - was fat-shamed

Sorry for the link fail.

Sally is on a tear! I love her Bea story.

"You don't need a cookie." Betty should've kept her fucking mouth shut. My grandmother was like that.

I did always think Betty’s over-the-top sweetness was a bit exaggerated.

[quote]“And I thought, ‘Gosh, that's not nice.’ ”

She would've spoken up, but her mouth was full.

Am I the only one who hates Betty?

People are complex. Betty may have been trying to help or she could have just been a passive-aggressive bitch.

Betty told her to save the cookies for the children on Sally's Christian Children's Fund commercials.

Mary Tyler Moore did say Betty was more like her Sue Ann Nivens character than people realized.

"A little less binge, a little more purge, Sally!!!!"

I think that’s why Bea didn’t care for her. She saw right through that sweet as apple pie shtick.

I never bought her sweet old lady routine. Betty was a cunt through and through.

Typical iconoclastic liberals, always out to destroy beloved, cherished institutions and put some negative spin on it.

Betty White was a fucking WASP and she had a huge stinger.

R13, typical Republican weirdo, bringing up their forever angry politics even in something meant to be lite-hearted.

Betty was the least gay friendly of all the golden girls toom

Lipstick lesbian.

I always suspected Betty was passive-aggressive as all get out, it's evident in outtakes from the GG's and I'm sure that's why Bea couldn't stand her. I always thought her "Bea hated me and I don't know why" was a load of crap and also totally something passive-aggressive people always say. I have a lot of family members like that, and the thing that sucks is that you can't say anything because they'll just play innocent. I'm glad Sally is saying this now.

Why do I believe this

Betty was probably right at the time. She didn't need that cookie.

Has Sally been to Skegness?

I love Sally's redemption arc. She went from one-hit wonder and commercial punchline to regional theater where she got accolades and worked all she wanted. Then came the hilarious interviews (her Gilbert Gottfried is a classic, where she described Rita Moreno as "Miss Coozeburger" and revealed Rob Reiner wasn't talking to her any more), and last year's "A Man on the Inside," where she was absolutely delightful.

Team Sally here.

I love the story Rue told at Beas funeral where she called Betty a cunt!

It's a good thing Betty wasn't there or that would have been really awkward !

R13, you're gonna get tired from standing on that ledge and screaming into the abyss.

In Betty's defense, she wasn't wrong

[quote] People are complex. Betty may have been trying to help or she could have just been a passive-aggressive bitch.

Now that you mention it, I see the helpful side to the comment!

From the article: "Struthers also told the hosts that she would often run into Arthur at the grocery store and end up laughing with her in the aisles. “She would trash everyone we ever knew," the actress remembered. “I loved how filthy she was."

So it's not ok for Betty to say to her face lay off the cookies, Porky but it is ok for Sally to rip people behind their backs with Bea Arthur, at the grocery store.

OK. Some days you really do need a bingo card.

I’m enjoying unhinged Sally. So far she’s come for Norman Lear and Betty White. Let’s hope someone brings up Bonnie Franklin to her.

R27. If I had to choose between someone talking about my eating a cookie behind my back versus to my face in front of other people, I would choose the former. But I agree that that the anecdote doesn’t put Strothers in the greatest light either.

What did she say about Norman Lear?

Re Rob Reiner: The writer Meghan Daum said Nora Ephron liked one of her pieces and invited her to one of her Hollywood dinner parties. People relished the invitation because it wasn't sit-down or catered; Nora would just bake big disposable pans of lasagna, put out plates, and there was plenty of liquor.

Daum was understandably nervous because everyone in the room seemed to be a household name but her. But she said the guests were all really nice and invited her into conversations, with one exception: Rob Reiner "who spent his time desperately looking over my shoulder for someone more famous to talk to."

[quote]Betty may have been trying to help

[quote]I see the helpful side to the comment

[quote]In Betty's defense, she wasn't wrong/Struthers probably didn't need that cookie

Say the queens on crack and meth binges. Fat shaming makes fat people fatter.

R32. You also have a partial irony deficiency.

All r13 does is troll about the "radical, woke left". You do the math.

I'm skeptical of both this story and the Norman Lear trash talking for which she's getting publicity. It's entirely possible that Betty was true to her persona with almost everyone in the world except for a few people she disliked. I suspect it's a Celeste Holm situation, where the person clutching their pearls over someone else's behavior is omitting their own cunty actions that preceded it.

How very bothsides of you, r35.

[quote] I always thought her "Bea hated me and I don't know why" was a load of crap and also totally something passive-aggressive people always say.

I agree. It never made sense that Betty couldn't figure out why Bea hated her.

Poor Rue had to play Switzerland on that set.

Fuck off, r33.

Yeah, I didn't buy Betty's "gosh darn, I don't know why Bea didn't like me" shtick. I've known too many manipulative people who act all wide eyed, confused and demure when someone sees through their ploys.

Is it true Betty's stepchildren didn't like her either?

r28 Oh that would be a DL dream. Someone should reach out to her and ask!

I only have one person blocked here on DL and it's r13

[quote]"Bea would trash everyone we ever knew." Struthers also told the hosts that she would often run into Arthur at the grocery store and end up laughing with her in the aisles.

The laughter always stopped in the cookie aisle, when Sally suddenly became very focused on loading her cart.

Congratulations.

Oh Sally. Looking for publicity? You can’t even remember if it was a cookie but you remember Betty’s exact words? Sally - shut up you old drunk. Talk about your dui arrest in Ogunquit. And yes, if Betty said that, she was right you porker.

Betty had a large bosom, but also a midsection that was a bit thick. She probably shouldnt have been eating cookies, either.

I thought Betty White’s more recent popularity was due to people being in on the joke that the “sweet little old me” routine was tongue in cheek.

Agreed R27. Betty wasn't allowed to be a little bit of a cunt but Bea was cool and fun because she was filthy and trashed everyone. Doesn't make much sense.

r48 Incorrect

I’m glad it happened and I hope everyone’s feelings were hurt.

...

I never bought her "nice" old lady bit. Betty was a cunt through and through.

Sally consumed the UNICEF rations that were supposed to last my village a year in one week.

Betty was rude as fuck for that. It's not even being a shady in a fun way.

Betty had poisoned the cookie thinking Bea would eat it, but then that Struthers creature strode in and grabbed it. Betty was just trying to save her.

Most of Bette White’s latest roles were precisely this, the sweet white haired old lady who takes advantage of looking like that and is, in fact, a cunt.

Don't be silly. Sally's fat was ashamed of her long before this.

Bring back All In The Family 2025. Joey Stivic would be about 50 now, a Trump supporter. Gloria and Mike divorced and there could be other sibs out there for Joey. Struthers would do it, and Rob Reiner and his incredibly simplistic solution of the JFK murder, should stick to acting. Who could play Joey????

It’s said that Bea’s animus toward Betty was because when someone flubbed their lines, Betty would play to the studio audience and make a joke out of it.

Bea didn’t like the breaking of character.., she was a pro and it sounds like she would have preferred they quickly do a pick-up vs having to get back into the moment.

But she also was protective of Estelle and knew she was struggling with her lines and it seems cruel to her. (Though you could see where Betty might have believed that making light of it took pressure off of Estelle.)

We all know Betty 'Sue Ann" White for the smart-ass woman she was.

Betty was a bitter b* and I don't buy it for a minute that she was in "love love" with Allen. You know she had some sewing circles going on. Hey maybe Bea was in one of them and there was some sort of issue or secret known between the 2 of them. Anyways, I feel sorry for Sally, she was on Man on the Inside and she's lost a lot of weight, she looks great now. F the haters!

Sally's weight has been a punchline for years but nobody has ever made comment on Rob Reiners fat self. This is misogyny.

This is a thread no straight man could ever be compelled to click on, under any circumstance.

R62, it’s true that Reiner was bald and steadily fattening up by his late twenties, but never got any flack for his looks.

Struthers also recently said Penny Marshall was cold to her when she same to tapings of All in the Family, as she was under the false impression Struthers and Reiner were having an affair.

Where was Betty when Chrissy Metz needed her?

462, Rob didn’t have looks to lose. Sally did. She was beautiful but got fat. There’s a difference. People like seeing pretty people at their prettiest. Rob was butt ugly from the start and no weight loss was going to make him look better.

Bea was an alcoholic and mentally ill. Betty was a cunt. This isn’t news.

[quote]Betty was probably right at the time. She didn't need that cookie.

Do you honestly think Sally didn't already know that she didn't need the damned cookie?

I knew Betty White was more like Sue Ann Nivens than any of her other characters whenever she appeared on Johnny Carson and traded barbs with Joan Rivers.

That sweet grandma persona she donned in later years never fooled me.

I find it odd that she wanted her home torn down when she died. Like to have a dungeon in the basement or what makes me wonder.

But Rue did say that whenever they'd go for lunch, Bea insisted that Betty be asked to go with them. People are complicated.

[quote]But Rue did say that whenever they'd go for lunch, Bea insisted that Betty be asked to go with them.

That sounds like professionalism on Bea's part.

R64 -

I can understand Penny's insecurity. In the early episodes of AITF, Michael and Gloria were always making out to the disgust of Archie. If this was a part she thought was hers, it had to be a little uneasy watching this mini-skirted actress with the Shirley Temple curls making out with her husband.

I watched Match Game 73 on YouTube, it was the first season of the reboot.

Betty was a guest panelist often the first season and especially for the first couple of months. She was very Sue Ann Nivens with Brett Somers. Brett seemed to be joking with Betty in good fun but Betty seemed to be going for the jugular while sporting her rictus grin. It really turned me off to Betty.

I also never bought the kindly old lady act at the end of her life. When she married Allen he was a widower with kids so I'm guessing his younger kids lived with them for at least a little while. Why didn't any of Allen's kids like or speak to her in her old age?

"If you're worried about criticism, sometimes a diet is the best defense."

--Lucille Bluth to her daughter Lindsay

[quote]Joey Stivic would be about 50 now, a Trump supporter.

Why would he be a Trump supporter? His parents were liberals.

I have R13 blocked.

Speaking of Cloris, one of the hosts of the Golden Girls Deep Dive Podcast said when he was working as a hotel concierge, Cloris was the biggest cunt he encountered.

Someone ask Sally about Linda Lavin.

Betty White was not as pure as you thought.

Did Betty white play up the sweet old lady schtick early on or was it a reaction to expectations based on her GG character?

I think the latter.

Team Betty, all the way.

No teams for me. It's entertaining, but why would I choose a side.

Richard Simmons had a very similar story about Betty. They were on Password and someone called her the Queen of Password. Remember this was in the early 80s when Richard was strictly closeted and worried about his career. Betty said something like "I'm glad I'm not the ONLY queen on Password this week!" Richard was freaked out, and the comment cut out of the broadcast. He said though she apologized he was always wary of her after that.

Betty had an interesting trajectory. First she was a sitcom star. Then she became a spokesman for various products like refrigerators on live broadcasts. Also she would host the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This was when, in the '60s, she adapted a sort of sickly sweet personna.

When casting the role of Sue Ann, the producers wanted someone who had that sickly sweet Betty White quality on air, but off air was a real slut. At some point Grant Tinker said "let's just ask Betty White!"

So the Sue Ann persona became Betty's jokey, television personality on talk shows.

Years later, as younger people never knew that version of her, the sweet grandma thing started to become het general personality. Though she would still make slut jokes on award shows from time to time.

r85 We need proof of this story

r77 Ok, thanks for announcing it. We were all wondering.

Betty wasn't the only one. I remember jokes about Sally's weight in the media.

All I know is that the Sue Ann Nivens character is decidedly funnier than the Rose Nyland character.

R87 - here’s the clip…

r91 The video is a bit different than your version, isn't it? Certainly less scandalous sounding

R92, I am R91. However, I am not R85.

r93 Thank you for the clarification.

In that case, the video you shared isn't quite as scandalous as the way r85 described. Either way, thanks for finding it.

[quote]All I know is that the Sue Ann Nivens character is decidedly funnier than the Rose Nyland character.

Because the writing on the MTM show was much sharper than the formulaic jokes on "The Golden Girls." I know GG is beloved on DL, but basically it was the same jokes again and again and again. Blanche is a slut, Rose is stupid . . .

Betty’s titties make me moist - down there.

That cookie line was just typical old people vocal freedom. When most of us reach a certain age, we stop giving a damn what other people think about what we say. And from the looks of things Betty was right to caution Sally to lay off the cookies.

Don't worry kids, if you're lucky you'll get there one day. Now get off my damn lawn.

[quote]And from the looks of things Betty was right to caution Sally to lay off the cookies.

No, she wasn't. She was being a cunt,

R87 it was on Richard Simmons' Facebook page.

R87 Here you go...

"Now I want to to leave you with this story. I was asked to do Password Plus with Betty White and her husband Allen Ludden…I accepted.

When we got on the set I looked at Betty and said, “Wow you are the queen of password!” Without missing a beat,she said, “No you are the queen of password.” There was a moment of silence. I did not know what to say… so we just continued playing the game. I had four more shows to do.

After we finished, I went to my dressing room and there was a knock at the door. I opened the door and there was Betty. “I hope I didn’t offend you. I was just being funny.” I just stood there and did not say a word.

As she walked away she turned around and said, “You can come back and play password anytime you want.” I never knew if they kept that in the show because I didn’t watch it. You know what they say…forgive and move on. Love, Richard"

The best thing about that Richard story was how nice Lucy was to him.

R85- Considering Betty White was a DYKE in real life she should not have been casting aspersion about Richard Simmons or anyone else.

R102 = Bea

[quote] “No you are the queen of password.” There was a moment of silence. I did not know what to say

The correct response is to laugh. It was fucking funny. If you're going around acting like Richard Simmons did, and he knew exactly what he was doing, you need to have a sense of humor about yourself.

R104 you're not looking at it in the context of the time. Simmons wasn't out, and greatly feared for his career if he was outted. The proper thing for Betty to do would've been to make those jokes only if he started making them first. For 1981 she was out of line. Sorry.

[quote]Simmons wasn't out, and greatly feared for his career if he was outed

He made a career acting like a queen. Everyone knew he was gay. He opened himself up for jokes by the way he acted. The comment was about how he acted, not necessarily about his personal life. It was a quip, and a funny one.