Sally Struthers Says Betty White Once ‘Fat-Shamed’ Her and Was ‘Very Passive Aggressive’

Sally Struthers is coming after the late Betty White. Via Entertainment Weekly, the All in the Family actress was a guest on a recent episode of the Let’s Talk About That! With Larry Saperstein and Jacob Bellotti podcast, where she admitted what her relationship with fellow classic TV star White was like. “I have to say, now that she’s gone, I wanna talk about Betty White for just a moment,” Struthers started.

“I know everybody loves her – they loved her so much they signed petitions to get her to guest-host Saturday Night Live – I know all that. I didn’t have such a great experience with her.” Struthers recalled how they were working together on the pilot for a new game show at White’s house in Los Angeles, with Struthers describing her as a “very passive-aggressive woman.”

“She asked her housekeeper to bring in a plate of whatever to us while we were all sitting and talking about what was working about the game show and what wasn’t working. A plate was set in the middle, and it was cookies, I think,” Struthers explained. “So I reach for a cookie and she said in front of everyone, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, dear. You don’t need a cookie.’ Totally fat-shamed me in front of the rest of the people in the room, and I thought, ‘Gosh, that’s not nice.’”

It’s unknown when the incident took place, but it sounds like whatever happened stayed with Struthers, despite having a personal connection to Golden Girls. On the podcast, Struthers explained she lived near the house used for the Golden Girls home. The series, which starred White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, ran for seven seasons from 1985 to 1992. “My house was on a street called Saltair, and four houses up the street from me was the house that was filmed as the exterior for Golden Girls,” Struthers said. “I lived four houses down from the Golden Girls house!”

Betty White died on New Year’s Eve 2021, less than a month shy of her 100^th birthday. The late actress had shared a message with her fans just days before her death, thanking them for their love and support over the years. While White was certainly universally loved, it seems like she still had some people that weren’t too fond of her.