The producers ofThe Golden Girlsrevealed bombshell new details about Bea Arthur and Betty White’s feud. The critically acclaimed hit 1980s sitcom revolutionized comedy by centering on four women who were in their golden years. During the timeThe Golden Girlsairedand years after the sitcom concluded, rumors about how Arthur disliked White swirled, which surprised millions of devoted fans.
Several people who worked with Bea Arthur and Betty White and had a front-row seat to their feud have commented on why they couldn’t stand each other. In a recent interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Marsha Posner Williams, a co-producer onThe Golden Girls, finallyconfirmed the rumors that had been going around for years.While it doesn’t come as a surprise that thetwo TV best friendsweren’t as close as their characters in real life, the recent report sheds some more light on what led to their personal animosity.
4Bea Arthur Hated How Betty White Acted On Set
Betty White Was More Relaxed Than Bea Arthur On Set
The Golden Girlswas filmed in front of a live audience. According to Marsha Posner Williams,Betty White would often break character in the middle of taping and talk to the audience, something which co-star, Bea Arthur, hated. Williams' comments about White were first raised in the 2016 biography,Golden Girls Forever.Author Jim Colucci expanded on what happened duringThe Golden Girlstapings. Colucci revealed that White would often relax and joke with audiences between setups (viaNew York Post).
Seven years after Bea Arthur passed away, her son, Matthew Saks, revealed toTHRwhy he thought his mother hated Betty White talking to the audience during breaks.Arthur felt that breaks during shooting were a time to conserve energyand not to interact, as she believed there was a proper time to talk to fans. Instead of going into the audience, Arthur would use her break time to go backstage. White’s habit of interacting with the audience and still performing when cameras rolled aapparently contributed to Arthur’s dislike of her co-star (viaThe Hollywood Reporter).
3Bea Arthur & Betty White Allegedly Clashed Because Of Their Different Backgrounds
Another source of friction was Bea Arthur and Betty White’s different backgrounds.Arthur began her acting career in theater and starred in a variety of plays on Broadway, includingNature’s WayandThe Threepenny Opera, before taking on the role of Dorothy Zbornak inThe Golden Girls.White started her acting careerdifferently; Betty mostly worked on television shows and even hostedMake Believe Ballroom, a variety series. Because of this, Arthur felt that she was a better actor than White (viaThe Hollywood Reporter).
Bea Arthur won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Vera Charles inMameat the 1966 award show.
There doesn’t seem to be a consensus about why Arthur and White couldn’t warm up to each other. While Williams attributes their feud to Arthur being from a theatrical background and thus hating any sort of publicity, other people who worked onThe Golden Girlshave different opinions.It is worth noting that neither of the actors had said anything about how their rumored feud began. The explanation for their feud is all speculation from those who were close to them.
It hasn’t been reported that Betty White didn’t like Bea Arthur. The dislike was reportedly only on Arthur’s side. While several people commented on how Arthur felt about White, no one really knew about the former, asBetty was very quiet when it came to rumors of a feud between herself and Bea.However, White did break her silence and attributed Arthur’s dislike of her to her positive attitude. According to White, Arthur would be furious whenever she saw her co-star happy (viaVillage Voice).
2Bea Arthur Was Allegedly Jealous Of Betty White
Betty White Was The First Member Of The Golden Girls Cast To Be Nominated For An Emmy Award
The Golden Girls’ co-producer,Jim Vallely, theorized that Bea Arthur didn’t like Betty White because she got more applause during cast introductions. If true, this isn’t surprising. According to Joel Thurm,The Golden Girls' castingdirector, Arthur was almost not hired because the award-winning actor reportedly had a low Q score in likability (viaThe Hollywood Reporter).
All four members of the main cast ofThe Golden Girlshave passed away. Estelle Getty died in 2008, Bea Arthur in 2009, Rue McClanahan in 2010, and Betty White in 2021.
Williams, however, disagreed with that assessment and felt that Arthur didn’t care about applause. Rumors about Arthur being jealous of White didn’t quiet down and only intensified as the years went on. One of the cast members ofThe Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan, revealed in her book,My First Five Husbands…And the Ones Who Got Away: A Memoir, thatArthur was upset when White was nominated for the Best Actress Award at the 1986 Emmy Awards. However, there’s still no confirmation if jealousy played a part in their feud.
Betty White did admit in her book,If You Ask Me, thatBeaArthur felt that her costar was “apain in the neck.”The two actors had different temperaments, and that might have played a huge role in why they couldn’t be friends off-screen. White’s positive attitude rubbed Arthur the wrong way, as she was more low-key and reserved. Maybe jealousy was the reason Arthur disliked White, asThe Golden Girls' creators believed, but there is no way of knowing for sure.
1Bea Arthur Called Betty White The C-Word
Bea Arthur Referred To Betty White With The C-Word Multiple Times
Bea Arthur calling Betty White the c-word is another longstanding rumor thatThe Golden Girls’ producers confirmed during theTHRlive panel. According to Williams,Arthur would often call Betty at home and refer to White using the c-word. Although the producer encouraged Arthur to get over her dislike for White, it took a while for that to happen.
The phone calls were not isolated incidents, asArthur reportedly called her co-star the c-word multiple times.Even while in company, Arthur couldn’t hold back and called White the c-word in the presence of Williams’ husband. Arthur also referred to White with the c-word while she was sitting next to her on a flight. TheTHRpanel isn’t the first time that the casting director forThe Golden Girlshas mentioned the feud. He first talked about it on a podcast, and audiences were shocked about how deep Arthur’s dislike for White ran.
Betty White and Bea Arthur were also professional enough not to display friction when they were filmingThe Golden Girls.
Although they didn’t get along off-screen, Betty White and Bea Arthur were also professional enough not to display friction when they were filmingThe Golden Girls.Granted, audiences like the idea of actors who are best friends on TV shows to also be like that in real life, but that’s not always possible. While Arthur calling White the c-word isn’t something that anyone liked hearing, the silver lining is that they apparently worked out their differences and became real friends.
The Golden Girls
Cast
The Golden Girls follows Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) as they live together in Miami. Throughout its seven seasons, the beloved series created by Susan Harris won 11 Primetime Emmys and continues to be one of the most beloved sitcoms of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
