Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s children, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Lucie Arnaz, are pulling back the curtain on their childhood — and revealing what it was like growing up on I Love Lucy.
Lucie, 73, recalled in biographer Todd S. Purdum’s new book, Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, how different her famous parents were when it came to dealing with her and brother Desi Jr., now 72.
Lucie remembered that her mom “took it personally” when one of the kids would disappoint her. Her dad, meanwhile, “Was not like that,” according to Lucie’s rare interviews with Purdum.
“He would get really angry and blow his stack, and be loud, but then he’d be done, and it would be like it never happened,” Lucie explained in the book, per People. “Like a storm just passed. The storm never said, ‘I’m sorry,’ the storm never left a note saying, ‘I’m sorry, that wasn’t your fault.’ But it stopped, right?”
In contrast, Ball would take offense to the children’s missteps because of how it allegedly reflected on her. “My mother would get personally offended by childhood behavior or what you said, because you should have known not to say that somehow, even though no one’s taught you what to say,” Lucille recounted. “And she would emotionally separate from you for however long she wanted to. And it would be sometimes days, sometimes weeks.”
Ball and Desi wed in 1940 after Ball had been working in Hollywood for decades. Desi, meanwhile, made his acting debut that same year after gaining fame as a musician.
Their love story soon inspired their hit sitcom I Love Lucy, which ran from 1951 to 1957. On the series, Ball played Lucy Ricardo, wife of band leader Ricky Ricardo (Desi), who gets into the wildest predicaments while trying to become a star in her own right.
Both Desi Jr. and Lucie were present when their parents shot the sitcom, but they had different experiences on set. Lucie remembered trying to “hide under the bleacher” when she was introduced to the audience. Desi Jr. said he on the other hand “was very much embracing the whole thing.”
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Following the success of I Love Lucy, the husband-and-wife duo starred on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour from 1957 to 1960. As the show came to an end, so did Ball and Desi’s marriage. The pair divorced in 1960, and their kids were not surprised.
“It wasn’t good for anyone,” Desi Jr. recalled in the book of his parents’ tumultuous relationship prior to their split. “And we’ll always remember when they sat us down and said, ‘Look, you know, things aren’t working.’ I mean, I remember word for word.”
Ball went on to lead multiple series of her own, including The Lucy Show from 1962 to 1968, Here’s Lucy from 1968 to 1974 and Life With Lucy in 1986. She starred in more than 120 movies and TV shows combined and was an executive producer on over 70 projects.
Desi also continued to act post-split, starring on The Mothers-In-Law from 1967 to 1968 and making cameos on The Virginian and Alice. He was an executive producer on several of Ball’s projects and hits such as Stark Trek and ABC Late Night. However, much of Desi’s acting and musical success was overshadowed by his ups and downs with alcoholism.
Like his father, Desi Jr. struggled with addiction and sought treatment in 1981 after living life in the spotlight since birth. Four years later, Desi asked his son for advice and checked into an alcohol rehabilitation program at Scripps McDonald Center in California under the name “Bill Sanchez” to protect his identity.
“It was really nice,” Desi Jr. told the book author of connecting with his father during such a hard time. “Because whatever I was going through, it was paying off. I said, ‘I can’t do anything for you, but there’s a place that can.’ He understood that.”
Desi Jr. noted that despite being so successful, his father felt lonely in fame. “That’s when he realized the emptiness — at the crest of his success,” Desi Jr. said. “He didn’t stop drinking. He didn’t know what the real poison was. This is a temporary life.”
Ball and Desi eventually found love for a second time, with Ball marrying Gary Morton in 1961 and Desi tying the knot with Edith Hirsch in 1963. Ball and Morton were married until her death in 1989 at the age of 77.
Desi and Hirsch, meanwhile, remained married until her death in 1985 at the age of 67. Desi died the following year at age 69.
Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television is now available anywhere books are sold.
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