Carol Burnett reveals late daughter Carrie Hamilton lived life to the fullest even as she battled cancer: ‘We were joined at the hip for a while there’
Carol Burnett is opening up about the loss of her late daughter Carrie Hamilton and some of the uplifting life lessons she learned from her and her battles with drugs and eventually cancer.
The legendary comedian and actress remembered with pride at how Hamilton, who overcame her drug addiction some two decades before her death at 38, was able to live life to the fullest, despite struggling with personal demons.
‘We were joined at the hip for a while there,’ Burnett, 87, shared in People’s first look at AARP The Magazine’s August and September 2020 issue.
‘Carrie died of cancer at 38. But in the hospital, she said, ‘Every day I wake up and decide today I’m going to love my life.’ And that was her mantra.’
Emotional: Carol Burnett about how her late daughter Carrie Hamilton lived life to the fullest, even in the days and weeks before she passed away from cancer in 2002; pictured in 1987
It was a tough road for both mother and daughter during her oldest daughter’s teenage years.
‘My daughter Carrie got into drugs. In that situation, don’t be their best friend,’ Burnett said of her tough-love approach she took in the 1980s in an effort to help get her clean and sober.
‘When we got her into a third rehab, oh, she hated my guts! You have to love them enough to let them hate you.’
Hamilton eventually got clean and sober before her 18th birthday, which led to what Burnett called ‘a good 20 years’ together.
‘Opening up: Every day I wake up and decide today I’m going to love my life.’ And that was her mantra,’ Burnett quoted her daughter Carrie when she was battling cancer
Courageous: Carrie Hamilton got clean and sober just before her 18th birthday, and lasted the rest of her life until her death at the age of 38 in 2002
Hamilton’s new-found sober life also opened her up to a career as an actress, singer and playwright.
The New York City native’s resume included a role as Reggie Higgins in the television version of the musical Fame for the fifth and sixth seasons (1988-87).
She also received acclaim for her portrayal as Maureen Johnson in the first national tour of the stage musical Rent.
Her last credited role was in the action drama TV series The Pretender, which aired in 2000.
New life: Hamilton’s new-found sober life also opened her up to a career as an actress, singer and playwright; mother and daughter are pictured in 1985
Hamilton passed away in January 2002 of pneumonia, a complication of lung and brain cancer
‘She never leaves me,’ Burnett revealed in an interview with People in 2018.
‘I just feel her. You don’t get over it, but you cope. What else can you do? When Carrie died, I didn’t want to get out of bed for a while, but I had a play to finish that we started that Hal Price was going to direct. I owed it to Carrie, and I owed it to Hal.’
The Carol Burnett Show icon went into emotional depth about mothering her daughter through the pain and joy of her life in her 2013 memoir — Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story.
Burnett is set to appear in the Netflix drama All Together Now, which will be available on the streaming service August 28.
Iconic: Burnett is best known for her the television comedy variety series — The Carol Burnett Show — that also starred Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway and Harvey Korman