Nineteen years ago, the world said goodbye to TV legend Bea Arthur, who forged a name for herself as the sharp-witted Dorothy Zbornak on the hit sitcom "The Golden Girls."
There have long been rumors of a feud between Arthur and co-star Betty White, who played Rose Nylund in the series, and her son has now revealed details of the rift in a candid interview with Fox News.
"You know, I’m always being asked that question if my mom hated Betty White," said Matthew Saks. "It’s not the way it is. I think my mom had some problems with her, but she liked her. I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said it’s fun to hate your neighbors. And I think what he meant was that everyone needs someone to say, 'Oh, here she goes!' We all need to have somebody that we can let get under our skin."
Saks also divulged details of the alleged behind-the-scenes feud between the two "Golden Girls" stars in a separate interview.
"My mom unknowingly carried the attitude that it was fun to have somebody to be angry at," he noted, according toSouthern Living. White herself had previously admitted that there was tension between her and Arthur in an HLN interview.
"She was not that fond of me," White said of Arthur. "She found me a pain in the neck sometimes. It was my positive attitude—and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she'd be furious!"
Eventually Arthur reached the point where she wanted to call it quits but stayed on the set of "The Golden Girls" for a final year amid pleas from her colleagues, Saks told Fox News, adding that while media frenzy continued in the outside world, home was where his mother's heart was. Rather than bask in her fame, Arthur preferred to stay in with one or two close friends.
"I do remember Rock Hudson being in my mom’s home," Saks recalled. "… Rock had dinner there and then he cleared the table. I was trying to clear the table, but I was not good with all the dishes. He just stacked them up to his arm and told me I was a rookie. And that lucky for him, he had been a waiter at one point."
Life has since moved on and, while Saks now has his own family, he told Fox News that there was not a day that he did not miss his mother.
"I wish she was here to see my kids. I’m pretty lucky to be me — my mom’s son," he said. "I remember really enjoying seeing her on stage. That work is not recorded, but she was just really phenomenal. And she was pretty good at living her life and not being a star at home."
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