The former Facts Of Life star Mindy Cohn is claiming that she was left devastated after an alleged reboot of the beloved 1980s sitcom was derailed by one of her “greedy” castmates.
Cohn Talks Facts Of Life Reboot
While appearing on the radio show Jeff Lewis Live, Cohn claimed that she and her former Facts Of Life costars were approached about a reboot after the success of the 2021 ABC special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes. The person who approached them was the show’s creator Norman Lear, who went on to die in 2023 at the age of 101.
“He said, ‘Are you guys interested?’ And we had all never really talked about it, but we all started to consider it a little bit, and we got into talks,” Cohn recalled. “And we hired a writer, and the four of us got together on Zooms. This was during COVID, and we had meetings with Norman about it.”
The four that Cohn, 58, is referring to is herself along with the actresses Kim Fields, 55, Lisa Whelchel, 61, and Nancy McKeon, 58. The fifth main Facts Of Life star Charlotte Rae died in 2018 at the age of 92.
When asked what derailed the reboot, Cohn replied, “what happened was not cute. Yeah. There was, there was drama.”
When pressed on what occurred, Cohn said it was more than just one of the stars being “difficult.”
“More than that,” Cohn said. “[She w]ent behind our backs and tried to make a separate deal for a spinoff just for herself and devastated the rest of us. … I had booked Palm Royale, another girl is working. I’m just saying it was for a 40-year friendship and sisterhood. There was tidal wave of emotion around it.
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Facts Of Life Reboot Is ‘Very Dead’
Cohn went on to say that the four actresses did not speak “for a while and now we do-ish, but there’s definitely, it was an ouch.” She then said that there is “no desire to ever work together” and that the reboot is “dead. It’s very dead.”
“A couple of people can’t move past it, don’t want to move past it,” Cohn continued. “We are not as united. Let me put it that way. We were united for 40 years over not talking about each other, not doing dirty, not, you know, all for one, one for all, and this kind of wrecked that, which is sad. Really sad.”
Cohn defiantly refused to name the actress that allegedly derailed the reboot. However, she indicated that her Instagram contains the answer, as it is obvious who from the Facts Of Life cast she continues to spend time with.
Related: Lisa Whelchel Of ‘Facts Of Life’ Fame Reveals How Faith Helped Her Navigate Hollywood
Who Is The ‘Greedy’ Actress?
Fans quickly headed to Cohn’s Instagram and noticed that while she’d recently shared birthday messages for Fields and McKeon, there is no mention of Whelchel anywhere on her social media. Cohn also has a photo of herself with just Fields and McKeon celebrating Lear’s 100th birthday in September of 2022.
“Celebrating @thenormanlear 100th birthday with these brilliant, gorgeous women whom i proudly call my family,” Cohn wrote in the caption, which notably has the comments turned off.
This has led to speculation that Whelchel, who played Blair Warner on the sitcom, was the actress who derailed the reboot. Days after Cohn’s comments, Whelchel posted a promo for her MeTV show “Collector’s Call.” Fans were quick to voice their support for her in the comments section.
“FYI I am Team Lisa,” one person wrote. Another fan commented, “You/Blair have been my favorite since I was a little kid…I really admire the class you’ve always shown including now. Lots of fans sending you support!”
Whelchel herself “liked” both comments.
This just goes to show that Hollywood is a tough business where backstabbing happens behind the scenes all the time. In the end, the fans are the ones who really lost out here, as many of us would have loved to see a Facts Of Life reboot!
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