‘Golden Girls’ Producer Reveals Co-Star Who Called Betty White the C–Word
One of the leading stars of the series couldn’t stand Betty White–and made no qualms about showing it.
Bob Riha Jr/Getty Images
Looks like cheesecake wasn’t the only C-word thrown around on the set of The Golden Girls.
Bea Arthur called her sitcom co-star Betty White a `c---’ on multiple occasions, according to a co-producer on the iconic TV show.
Marsha Posner Williams, who worked on the show which ran from 1985 to 1992, confirmed long-standing rumors the two women did not get on once the cameras were off.
“When that red light was on, 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 said on a panel at an L.A. event to mark the 40th anniversary of The Golden Girls, as covered by The Hollywood Reporter.
No C-bombs on camera - Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo; Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak; Betty White as Rose Nylund; Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux on the Golden Girls set.
NBC/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
The NBC sitcom was based around four senior women living in the same house in Miami.
The co-producer said Arthur would call her after bumping into White away from the set. “I just ran into that c--- at the grocery store, I’m gonna write her a letter,” Williams recalled Arthur saying. “I said, `Bea, just get over it for crying out loud. Just get past it.’”
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Williams said Arthur dropping the C-bomb was not uncommon.
“I remember, my husband and I went over to Bea’s house a couple of times for dinner. Within 30 seconds of walking in the door, the C-word came out.”
The surprising feud between the pair surfaced in an April 2022 podcast, after the sitcom’s casting director Joel Thurm recalled Arthur’s take on White.
“Bea Arthur said `Oh, she’s a f--king c--t’, using that word,” Thurm said.
The Golden Girls featured Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Betty White as Rose Nylund, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux and Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo.
Betty White and Bea Arthur playing nice for the cameras in 2005.
Desiree Navarro/FilmMagic
Williams also told the panel why The Golden Girls ended after seven years when all their contracts had come up for renewal.
“The executives went to the ladies,” Williams recalled. “Estelle said, ‘Yes, let’s keep going,’ and Rue said, ‘Yes let’s keep going,’ and Betty said, ‘Yes, let’s keep going.’ And Bea said ‘No f---ing way,’ and that’s why that show didn’t continue.”
Getty, who suffered from Lewy body dementia, died in 2008 aged 84. Arthur passed away from cancer in 2009, aged 86. McClanahan died at age 76 from a stroke in 2010. White died in 2021, aged 99.
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