Lucille Ball's Daughter Is Now Grown Up, And Spilling The Reality Behind Her Childhood
I Love Lucy followed Lucy Ricardo’s outrageous get-famous-quick schemes, but in real life, no such schemes were required. Lucille Ball became one of the biggest stars in the world, not to mention one of the most powerful. And according to her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, Ball was unlike her on-screen persona in other ways, too. Lucie finally opened up about what it was really like growing up with Lucy and Ricky as parents, and the truth was just as wild as you'd expect.
Lucille Ball's babies
Six weeks after Lucie Arnaz was born, I Love Lucy premiered. The show was so successful that “[my mother] was only out of work for 24 hours the rest of her life,” Lucie quipped decades later. But what about Lucille Ball’s other baby — Lucie herself?
A working mom
“My earliest memory of my mother was that she worked,” Lucie told the Television Academy. This may not sound strange these days, but back in the ‘50s, a working mother — especially one as famous and in-demand as Lucille Ball — was far more unusual.
They weren't around much
Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, weren’t around much during Lucie’s childhood. They were too busy with their own skyrocketing fame and burgeoning production company, Desilu Productions. Only on weekends did Lucie and her brother, Desi Jr., spend any significant time with their parents.
Feeling guilty
But when Lucille was home, she was the furthest thing from Lucy Ricardo. “[My mother] was a working mom and when she was home she was very business-like about running her house,” Lucie recalled. The reason for this, Lucie suspects, comes down to something many women of the time period struggled with...
