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How Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Daughter Lucie Is Following in Their Famous Footsteps
It’s pretty obvious Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz have one of the most incredible love stories of all time, but what’s even more interesting is their legacy — which includes their 70-year-old daughter, Lucie Arnaz.
The couple welcomed Lucie in July 1951 and, from that day on, their lives changed forever. Lucille and Desi worked even harder for their daughter and their son, Desi Arnaz Jr., who they later welcomed in 1953. Although their marriage didn’t last forever, the couple taught Lucie a few things about the world before they divorced in 1960.
“She was very kind to her fans and always took time for them,” Lucie recalled of her mom to Closer Weekly. “She taught me that if they come up and bother you while you’re eating your dinner, don’t get crazy. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have anything. And my father was the same way: very generous, very appreciative, very grateful for every single bit of it.”
As for her father, Lucie admired Desi’s can-do attitude and what he did with I Love Lucy. “After many, many years, lots of people are acknowledging what was created and that the show was historic and pioneering for television,” she explained. “It’s not all him and he never took credit for all of that himself. He credits the people he was smart enough to hire, who figured out how to do a three-camera show in front of a live audience on film, which had never been done before.”
By incorporating her parents teachings into her life, Lucie grew up to do what she loves most — acting. She’s known for playing Elizabeth Short in Who Is the Black Dahlia?, Eleanor Jordan in Smoking Nonsmoking and most importantly Kim Carter in Here’s Lucy. She also appeared on a special I Love Lucy-themed episode of Will & Grace.
If her parents were alive today, they would be so proud of everything she has achieved. However, Desi died in 1986 from lung cancer at the age of 69 and Lucy later passed away in 1989 from an aortic dissection at the age of 77.
“They were kind, they never said bad words about each other in front of their children and they stayed friends til the day they died,” she said. “It was a fantastic romance that even got more passionate and more friendly after they were not married to each other anymore.”
