“Facts of Life” actress Mindy Cohn said a “greedy” co-star destroyed the opportunity for the revival of the beloved sitcom.
Cohn explained that she and all her co-stars from the hit show were a tight-knit community for the first 40 years of their friendship, but said things went awry toward the end when money and fame took the spotlight precedence over friendship. She aired her grievances on SiriusXM’s “Jeff Lewis Live” in their July 24 clip, but refused to reveal the name of the star that stood in the way of the reunion. The show’s reboot will never be remade, according to Cohn. “It’s dead. It’s very dead,” she said on the podcast.
The famous actress said Norman Lear approached all four “Facts of Life” stars about returning to the small screen for a revival, shortly after the success of their “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” special that aired in 2021.
“He called all of us and said, ‘I knew you guys were still popular, but holy hell,’” Cohn recalled Lear saying.
“We had never really talked about it, but we all started to consider it a little bit,” she said, referencing the reboot. “We got into talks. 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.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 07: Mindy Cohn attends the Critics Choice Association’s Inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television at Fairmont Century Plaza on June 07, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived. Cohn, who played the role of Natalie Green on the show, said things fell apart rather quickly.
“What happened was not cute,” she said. “There was drama.”
“One of the girls went behind our backs and tried to make a separate deal for a spinoff just for herself and devastated the rest of us,” she went on.
“A couple of people can’t move past it, don’t want to move past it,” she added. “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, you know, ‘All for one, one for all,’ and this kind of wrecked that, which is sad. Really sad.”
The actress was visibly frustrated over the matter.
“What it is is, it’s really sad. Some people are so desperate for either money or fame that it causes them to do things that to me, I guess I’m not that jaded. It shocks me,” she said. “You’re gonna do that over money? Or that over becoming famous? It always freaks me out that people will do that. Throw friendships, deep, true friendships, under the bus for a dollar.”
Cohn made it clear she wasn’t going to call out the person by name, but told listeners they’d be easily able to figure out who it is by paying attention to who in the group she ‘doesn’t’ post about. (RELATED: Heather Locklear Set To Make Hollywood Comeback In ‘Melrose Place’ Reboot)
“I am so not going to tell you,” she said.
