Lucy Ewing from 'Dallas' Has Found Happiness as a Granny at 64 after Her Fiancé Died before Their Wedding

• Charlene Tilton, the Dallas star, is now 64.

• Despite losing her money because of her mom's illness and her fiance's death, she focused on her own daughter & family.

• Now she refuses bikini shoots as she is a granny to two.

Charlene Tilton rose to fame after her role on the TV show "Dallas." She became a household name soon after the show aired in the 1980s and has remained so until now when she is 64 years old.

She has faced many challenges during her life but has found a way to come through them and come out stronger. She is now the grandmother of two beautiful children and has adjusted her career choices because of it.

Charlene was 17 when she was cast in "Dallas," but before then, she was working in a T-shirt shop. The show ran from 1978 to 1991 and was popular worldwide. Tilton began being recognized because of the show and became the cover of many magazines.

While Charlene was young when she was first cast, she said that her costars Larry Hagman, Barbara Bell Geddes, and Jim Davis protected her and taught her about the working culture. She said they expected her to work harder than others and ensured she didn't get involved with the wrong things.

She said that every time she goes back to the set, she said she grew up there and remembers those happy years of her life when her cast members became like members of her family, and it doesn't feel like the show aired forty years ago.

Charlene admitted that there were so many things that were going on around her when she was a young woman on the set that she was

about, but she had her costars there. She confirmed they guided her to be a better person and not make unhealthy choices.

While she acknowledged her costars as valuable sources of guidance, she also credited her church with helping her. She mentioned that when she got to Dallas to film, she found a wonderful church and stayed there throughout her time on the show.

Charlene also had a difficult upbringing, being in foster care from ages five to eight when her mother was institutionalized for mental illness. She said her role models were her older costars because they helped raise her.

The actress went on to star in many other productions, with the most recent being in "A Welcome Home Christmas" in 2020. She said that during quarantine, she gained a younger fan base.

She also married country singer Johnny Lee, and the couple welcomed a daughter named Cherish. Cherish got

in 2014 and welcomed two children of her own, who Charlene adores.

Charlene Tilton Was in Financial Ruin, Caring For Her Mom But Became Close with Her Daughter

Charlene has been open about her relationship with her mother and admitted that she had been in foster care for many of her formative years because of her mother's mental illness. She shared:

"I was a little kid sitting with a mother who was mentally ill, going from one place to another, taking my belongings in a little trash bag."

She could not have a great relationship with her mother when she was growing up, but after she had her own daughter, she and her mother could mend their ties through tragedy.

Charlene's mother became ill after Charlene welcomed Cherish, and although she had not been a great mother to Charlene, the actress knew that she was going to care for her mother when she needed it most.

Talking about her experience caring for her mother and how their relationship changed when she fell ill, Charlene

:

"My mother was very sick for a lot of years … and then at the end of her life, she was on a respirator for 19 months. I paid all of her medical bills."

Her mother passed away, and then Charlene faced another personal tragedy when her fiance died of heart failure suddenly the day before Christmas in 2009, which left Charlene in a depressed state.

She said it was costly to keep her mother alive and challenging to lose her fiance. She spent all her savings on her mother and ended up with nothing to her name. Some of her financial ruin also resulted from her accountants embezzling money and mismanaging her accounts.

Despite that, her daughter turned her life around. When Cherish was younger, she would visit the set with her mother and later made the ranch she spent her childhood on her wedding venue.

Cherish followed in her father's footsteps and became a country singer, but said that becoming a singer was not easy for her just because her family was famous. She confirmed she had to work just as hard as everyone else.

She Adores Her Grandkids As A "Glam-Ma"

Charlene's daughter welcomed two children; although she loves her grandchildren, the actress doesn't like to be called a grandma. Instead, she prefers her grandchildren to call her "Glam-ma."

Charlene once said that she viewed success as trying her best and loving the person that you are. She said that being with her two grandsons at this point in her life was more important to her than anything else.

The actress said she has had money and has been broke, and she would rather have her family and grandsons around her at all times, no matter what her financial situation was. Her grandchildren are now her priority.

During her younger years, Charlene was often on the covers of magazines, and she even did a few photoshoots in which she wore a bikini. However, now that she is older she doesn't want to do that.

Talking about how her career goals have changed since she became a mother and grandmother to her grandsons, she said:

"I'm a grandmother, and I'm loving it, so I want to play, but I don't have any desire to go back in a bikini."

She admitted that when she was younger, she thought posing in a bikini was a stepping stone to something bigger in her career. Yet now, she has had her career and is ready to move on to the next thing in her life.

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