Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty
Carol Burnettis both a comedy legend and a mom of three.
As a mom, Burnett always stressed to her children the importance of following their own creative paths. “I’ve always been asked why I don’t put my daughters on television,” Burnett toldInterviewmagazinein 1978. “I always say, ‘Listen, my old lady didn’t have a show of her own. Let them get theirs.’ "
Nonetheless, Burnett’s kids all found their way into the business: Carrie, who died in 2002, was an actress and writer; Jody is a film producer and podcast host; and Erin is a singer.
As her daughters grew up, she chose to be candid about herfamily’s history with addiction, beginning with her parents. She has since advocated for resources like Al-Anon and Alateen for those with loved ones who struggle.
“They help you realize that you’re not the problem,” Burnett toldMarlo Thomasof the support groups. “You can’t cure them and you didn’t cause it. So, you have to look out for yourself.”
Here’s everything to know about Carol Burnett’s children.
Carrie Louise Hamilton
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Burnett and Joe Hamilton’s eldest daughter, Carrie Louise Hamilton, was born in New York City on Dec. 5, 1963. Although Burnett was a Broadway star at the time, she didn’t become a bonafide television celebrity until 1967 with the premiere ofThe Carol Burnett Show. But, as Burnett toldInterviewin 1978, her kids didn’t really watch her series.
“Well, it depends who the guests are,” she said. “They certainly wanted to come to the taping whenSteve Martinwas a guest. My oldest is quite a critic. My feeling is they ought to get kids up to the networks and have them watch things for their age group. Kids are so honest. They really tell it like it is.”
When Carrie was a teenager, she began using drugs and drinking heavily. She went to rehab three times before getting sober. “I’m happy to sayshe got off drugs, but during those three years it was hell,” Burnett told PEOPLE in 2016. “At one point I had to throw her into a rehab place before she was 18 and she hated me. She totally hated what I was doing to her.”
Carrie reflected on her struggles with addiction in an interview with PEOPLE in 1979. “I was always Carol Burnett’s daughter,” the then-15-year-old said. “When I got high, I wasn’t anymore. I wanted my own image.”
While the mother and daughter had a strained relationship during that time, they eventually reconciled and grew extremely close. Carrie went on to find success in music and acting, both of which she studied at Pepperdine University. She appeared in shows likeFameand movies likeTokyo Popand sang with a band called Big Business. She was married to musician Mark Templin from 1994 to 1998.
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Carrie and her mom collaborated on a play,Hollywood Arms, based on Burnett’s 1986 memoirOne More Time—but Carrie never got to see her work onstage. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2001 and died of cancer-related pneumonia on Jan. 20, 2002. She was 38 years old.
Hollywood Armswas scheduled to open at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre that spring. In her grief, Burnett wanted to call it off. “Carrie passed awayand I … Well, I’m her mom, and I didn’t want to get out of bed,” she later said during a 2022 appearance on theDear Multi-Hyphenatepodcast. However, her husband, Miller, encouraged her to continue. “And my husband — we were going into previews — said, ‘Carol, you owe this not only to Carrie but you owe it to [director Hal Prince] to finish.’ "
Burnett recalled being on the plane to Chicago and asking her late daughter for a sign that she’d be there in spirit. When she got to her hotel, there was a bouquet of birds of paradise waiting for her. “[Carrie] had a bird of paradise tattooed on her right shoulder,” Burnett continued. “I called Hal and said, ‘How did you know? That was Carrie’s favorite flower.’ And he said, ‘I didn’t. I just called down and said send up something exotic to Carol’s room.’ "
The next night at dinner, the restaurant presented her with a bottle of complimentary champagne. “On the label it said, ‘Louise,’ " Burnett said. “That was Carrie’s middle name and my mother’s name.”
Burnett’s connection to her late daughter is ever present.
“She never leaves me,” Burnett told PEOPLE in 2018.“I just feel her.”
Jody Hamilton, 58
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Jody Hamilton, Burnett and Hamilton’s second child, was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 18, 1967.
“My mom and dad were so cool,” her sister Erin told PEOPLE in 1999. “They wanted me and my sisters Carrie and Jody to go through whatever we had to go through to find out who we are.”
In the early 1980s, as Burnett and Hamilton were divorcing, they sent Jody and Erin to live with friends in Hawaii so they wouldn’t have to witness the dissolution of their marriage. “We all kind of knew it was happening,” Erin recalled. “We told them to do whatever they had to do to be happy.”
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In 2001, Jody also produced a retrospective of Burnett’s early career calledCarol Burnett: Show Stoppers, which drew more than 30 million viewers. The show aired a few months after Carrie’s lung cancer diagnosis. Burnett first wanted to call it off but Burnett’s costar Tim Conway later told PEOPLE that before she died, “It was Carrie who said, ‘You have to do this, Mom.’ "
Jody co-hostedFrom The Bunker— a politics and pop culture podcast from 2014 to 2023 — and according to theWall Street Journal, she and her husband, musician and songwriter Lonny Paul Johnson, live together in L.A.
Jody Hamilton, Carol Burnett, and Chrissie Burnett attendCarol Burnett’s Hand and Footprint in the Cement Ceremony on June 20, 2024 in Hollywood, California.Monica Schipper/Getty
Monica Schipper/Getty
In June 2024, Jody attended Burnett’shand and footprint ceremonyat the TCL Chinese Theater. She posed for photos alongside her mom and the comedian’s sister, Chrissie Burnett.
Erin Kate Hamilton, 56
The youngest of Burnett and Hamilton’s daughters, Erin Kate Hamilton, was born on Aug. 14, 1968, in L.A. In a 1999 interview with PEOPLE, she recalled what it was like growing up with a superstar mother and visiting the set of her mom’s show as a child. “It mesmerized me,” said Erin. “And she mesmerized me. But it seemed normal: ‘Oh, Mom’s playing dress-up.’ "
After high school, Erin enrolled at Bennington College in Vermont, but dropped out to follow theGrateful Deadaround the country as they toured. Eventually, she wanted more. “I decided I wanted to be the band that people followed,” she said, “instead of always following the band.”
She became a professional singer, performing with jazz and blues bands before embarking on a solo career as a dance music artist. Her albumOne Worlddebuted in 1999 and has since opened for artists likeBette MidlerandWhitney Houston.
In 1995, Erin married musician Trae Carlson; the couple had one son, Zachary, before divorcing in 1998. She then married to Tony West, with whom she shares son Dylan.
Erin has struggled with addiction for much of her adult life. In August 2020, Burnett and Millerpetitioned for legal guardianshipof Erin’s son Dylan because of “addiction issues and other circumstances” affecting Erin, per the court filing.
“Guardianship will be for oversight purposes concerning his health, education and welfare and not intended to deny him nor the parents proper visitation with one another,” Burnett said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time. “We look forward to recovery being the next stepping stone towards normalization and ask for privacy at this time to allow that process to occur.”
Burnett and Miller were grantedtemporary guardianshipof Dylan in September 2020. In 2022, a permanent guardian was named.
Ahead of her 90th birthday in 2023, Burnett reflected on the lessons she learned as a mother, saying, “Life can change on a dime. So just be grateful for today what you have.”
source: people.com
