Rumor has it that Bea Arthur and Betty White weren’t exactly sharing cheesecake off-screen during their Golden Girls days.
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The beloved sitcom’s co-producer, Marsha Posner Williams, discussed the long-rumored tense relationship between the two during a Pride LIVE! Hollywood panel in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
“When that red light was on [and the show was filming], there were no more professional people than those women, but when the red light was off, those two couldn’t warm up to each other if they were cremated together,” Williams recalled, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Williams shared that Arthur, who played Dorothy Zbornak on the show, once called her at home to vent about running into “that c— at the grocery store, expressing frustration and saying she wanted to “write her a letter.”
“I said, ‘Bea, just get over it for crying out loud. Just get past it,’” Williams recalled.
Apparently, Arthur had a habit of calling White—who played the delightfully naive Rose Nylund—a certain four-letter word that wasn’t “cute” quite often.
The producer recalled going to dinner at Arthur’s home and “within 30 seconds of walking in the door, the c-word came out.”
Hey, maybe the lovely ladies were taking the word back a term of affection…
Insiders Speculate On Betty White and Bea Arthur’s Alleged Feud
Williams also mentioned that Betty White, who passed away in December 2021 at 99, often broke character during the show to speak directly to the live audience, something “Bea hated.”
Co-producer Jim Vallely suggested that the tension may have stemmed from White receiving more applause during cast introductions before tapings. However, Williams disagreed. She explained that Arthur, who passed away in 2009 at age 86, disliked doing publicity and came from a theater background, while White came from a television background.
Script supervisor Isabel Omero recalled it differently, saying the two used to stroll “arm in arm” to get notes after the first taping. Williams quipped it was a safety measure—if a rogue golf cart came speeding by, one could not so heroically shove the other in its path…