Sally Struthers says she was once “fat-shamed” by Betty White

CNN
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Turns out not everyone “American’s Grandmother” loved Betty White.

During a conversation on the podcast “Let’s Talk About That!” “With Larry Saperstein and Jacob Bellotti,” actress Sally Struthers recounted an experience she had years ago with White, who died in 2021 at the age of 99.

The “All in the Family” star acknowledged how valued White was in her life, and Stuthers said people “loved her so much.”

“They signed petitions to have her guest host on ‘Saturday Night Live,'” Struthers said. “I know all that. I didn’t have a great experience with her.”

Struthers described White as a “very passive-aggressive woman.”

She went on to tell a story about a visit to White’s house to work on a new game show, and White asked her housekeeper to bring them some food.

Struthers said a plate of cookies was brought out and placed in front of people gathered at a table.

“So I reached for a cookie and she said in front of everyone, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, darling, you don’t need a cookie,'” Struthers recalls.

The podcast hosts reacted with surprise.

“I felt completely embarrassed in front of the other people in the room,” Struthers added. “And I thought, ‘Gosh, that’s not nice.’ ”

She had kinder things to say about White’s “Golden Girls” co-star Bea Arthur.

Years before that show became a hit, Arthur guest starred on All in the Family as Maude, a cousin of Jean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker.

Struthers called Arthur “a force of nature” and the character was serialized in a series called “Maude,” which ran on CBS from 1972 to 1978.

Arthur died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 86.