RSS Feeds
And Now Your Friday Downer: No 'Golden Girls' Made It To Estelle Getty's Funeral
Posted by Seth at 8:50 AM on July 26, 2008
Uh-oh—don't let that crying kid on YouTube see this, lest we prepare for a tsunami of waterworks that could very well short-out the entire internet: None of the surviving Golden Girls showed up to Estelle Getty's funeral. Not even her own daughter. Inside Edition tracked down two of the three to find out where they were:
Bea Arthur, who played Estelle Getty's daughter on the show, tells INSIDE EDITION she's been grieving for years over Getty's long decline due to dementia, and could not deal with the emotion of a funeral.
Arthur: "She's been out of it so many years, not recognising anyone. It's a Godsend. She's at peace."
Rue McClanahan, Getty's former Golden Girls co-star who is living in New York, tells INSIDE EDITION that she couldn't attend the funeral because she recently had surgery.
McClanahan: "I'd like them to know that I didn't {attend the funeral} because I can't fly right now with knee surgery. I don't know why Betty and Bea didn't go, maybe because they, too, have said their goodbyes to her when she was alive."
For those keeping track, that leaves the whereabouts of dotty Rose Nylund—aka Bette White—unaccounted for, but once she's gotten a hold of, we're certain she'll have a delightful story about an ancient Viking funeral custom carried over into modern St. Olaf culture that requires you to skip your fellow warrior's services in favour of a cat-neutering rally in the Valley.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
IamXenu!
Posted 11:46 AM 26/7/08
Guess the others were too busy with the "Golden Palace" reunion.
IamXenu!
el smrtmnky
Posted 11:30 AM 26/7/08
she's probably busy doing a run
+ Watch video
el smrtmnky
Nunya B
Posted 10:47 AM 26/7/08
I don't understand- what makes the reasons Rue and Bea gave invalid? Those are perfectly good reasons for not attending a funeral, especially after a death as long and drawn out as Estelle Getty's.
Nunya B
lrubemp
Posted 10:37 AM 26/7/08
This stinks. We're policing funerals, now? considering what phoney, ghoulish extravaganzas these are most of the time, it often shows a lot more dignity and respect for the dead NOT to go, while many of those who show up make a mockery by their very presence. Move on.
lrubemp
Losin_it
Posted 10:24 AM 26/7/08
Since we don't know these people, and can't read their minds, how do we know if their motives are malicious or not? I have no idea if my girlfriend is ever going to call me again, let alone if Bea Arthur didn't go to Estelle Getty's funeral because she's pissed off about something.
Naturally, there ARE valid reasons why sometimes you would not go to a funeral. Grieving in private is possible. But who knows what's what here.
Losin_it
jasonelias
Posted 10:20 AM 26/7/08
Betty, Bea and Rue were all too busy gallivanting around, kicking up their heels to attend...
jasonelias
jakay
Posted 10:02 AM 26/7/08
not to get all serious and such, but as someone who lost a loved one recently, i completely understand where these women are coming from. people grieve in different ways for the ones closest to them (had a family friend who just couldn't attend their own spouse's funeral, for instance). i don't think their actions are in any way malicious, especially considering the circumstances. may you rest in peace, estelle.
jakay
Baronzemo
Posted 10:02 AM 26/7/08
kookla, when Rory Storm("& The Hurricanes") commited suicide in the mid 1970's a reporter hunted down Ringo Starr to demand why he wasn't at the funeral...being he was his drummer, directly led to the Beatles & all, Ringo said;
"come to think of it-I wasn't there for his birth, either"
Baronzemo
Lulamaybelle
Posted 9:44 AM 26/7/08
I just saw Betty White last weekend watching The Drowsy Chaperone, she has NO excuse to have not gone...
Lulamaybelle
Seth
Posted 9:38 AM 26/7/08
@Rey: Corey?
Seth
Rey
Posted 9:24 AM 26/7/08
I think most anybody who has lost a dear one who struggled with any form of dementia for the last years of their life would understand the lack of desire to attend that person's funeral. For some people, the "closure" of a funeral is still necessary but I don't think you can begrudge anybody for making the decision not to attend.
Assuredly, significant "good-byes" have already been said and for all anybody knows Beatrice, Rue, or Betty could have lit their own candles at home that night to pay their respects.
Rey
kookla
Posted 9:07 AM 26/7/08
This reminds me of a friend who didn't attend a mutual friend's funeral saying, "It's not like she'd know I was there." Only this is worse because Inside Edition didn't know my dead friend.
kookla
Old No.7
Posted 8:57 AM 26/7/08
Kharma's a bitch, and deaths happen in threes.
Sleep well, you old bats.
Old No.7
DrAftershave
Posted 8:55 AM 26/7/08
well, we can't really blame the girls. it's not like they could sit shiva.
DrAftershave
JudyPaceFace
Posted 4:05 PM 26/7/08
Come on, isn't it just POSSIBLE that Estelle and the rest of the gals weren't really all that close?
I used to be one of four black reporters in a newsroom. We hung out together a lot and everyone assumed we were all friends. One moved away. When she got really sick, my boss told the rest of us about it with a heavy heart. He thought we would be devastated. But none of us called the reporter or even so much as sent a card. I asked the other two reporters why THEY hadn't responded to her illness. We discovered that all of us silently hated her and always had
JudyPaceFace
TryThisAtHome
Posted 3:55 PM 26/7/08
Leave them alone. Everyone grieves in their own way.
TryThisAtHome
Seth
Posted 9:58 PM 26/7/08
@JudyPaceFace: You just handed me the idea for the best sitcom ever on a silver platter.
Seth
dluvvly
Posted 12:32 AM 27/7/08
Sorry about the double post, when I didn't see it show up after 10 minutes of refreshing, I posted again and lo, there was the first one.
dluvvly
dluvvly
Posted 12:31 AM 27/7/08
Makes you wonder what will happen when the cast of 'Friends' starts to get on in years...
dluvvly
dluvvly
Posted 12:21 AM 27/7/08
Makes you wonder what's going to happen when the cast of 'Friends' gets up in years...
dluvvly
jasonelias
Posted 7:33 AM 27/7/08
It's clear that they all loved Sophia. Estelle Getty? Not so much....
jasonelias