Gloria from 'All in the Family' Is Gray-Haired & Thinner after Series Made Her Close to Own Family

• Gloria from "All in the Family" is now 75!

• Her T.V. parents replaced her real ones, who died, and showed family love.

• Sally Struthers shared the priority of the family with her only daughter.

Sally Struthers, most famous for her role as Gloria in "All in the Family," turned 75 this year. She enjoyed an extensive career, allowing her to build the family she lost when her parents died.

She went on to prioritize family life and even welcomed a daughter. Now, she spends most of her time with her daughter and loves her life. She has not done much work in Hollywood recently as she has slowed her career down.

"All in the Family" was a sitcom centered around a working-class family's trials, tribulations, and celebrations. The series ran from 1971 until 1979 and made cast members household names.

Struthers often talked about how much she loved being on the show and how well she and her castmates got along. She said there was no competition between them, and they loved one another dearly.

While she loved each of her castmates, Struthers said she shared a special bond with her T.V. dad, Caroll O'Connor. O'Connor played Archie Bunker, Struthers' father, on the show, and the actress said they were immediately close when they met.

Struthers' father had passed away in 1968, three years before she met O'Connor, and it was, for this reason, Struthers immediately felt a bond with the older man. She said the older man was as fatherly to her in real life as he was in the show. She reminisced:

"Caroll gave me advice, he laughed at my antics, he hugged me all the time — and he introduced me to my husband, [William Rader]! So I gained a father again by doing that show."

For this reason, Struthers had a hard time when the show ended in 1979. She said while she was emotional, she wasn't sad as she didn't know then that she would miss it as much as she did.

Now, whenever Struthers sees an episode on T.V. and sees her character, she becomes so upset that she has to change the T.V. channel. Her T.V. father remained active in the industry even as his health deteriorated.

Struthers also developed a close relationship with her T.V. mom, Jean Stapleton. Stapleton played the role of Edith Bunker in the show. In 2013, when Stapleton passed away, Struthers shared her thoughts on her bond with the older woman.

She shared that she had recently seen the older woman in her apartment, which overlooked Lincoln Center. The pair caught up with one another about their children, and Stapleton showed Struthers around her apartment. Remembering the visit, Struthers said:

"It was as if we had said goodnight the night before in the CBS parking lot and picked up the next day."

When Stapleton passed, Struthers said she found it difficult to talk about her in the past tense as she considered Stapleton her last surviving parent. The actress also said she and Stapleton had been friends for 43 years.

Stapleton passed away at 90 on May 31, 2013. No cause of death was disclosed to the public. Struthers reflected on her relationship with her T.V. mom and credited her as one of the people who helped raise her.

While Struthers had lost her parents, she was worried about how the rest of her family would react to her being on "All in the Family," but she had nothing to worry about. They loved it and found the humor in the show.

Sally Struthers' Ex Helped Her Not Come Back to "All in the Family": Life After the Show

After the show ended, Struthers tied the knot with an L.A. psychiatrist. She also created a production company called Mother Struthers Productions, which she tried to produce a show with.

However, she believed her T.V. bosses ruined her show on purpose so that she would come back to "All in the Family" for a spinoff they were planning. However, her then-husband helped her stand her ground and not return to the show.

He also helped her to lose weight when she needed it. After the show ended, she gained weight and was then in need of something that would help her. Her husband implemented Rader's No-Diet Program for Permanent Weight Loss.

He said she was tough, and so was he, which meant that conflict could quickly arise, but he admitted that he was only a husband to his wife and not a psychiatrist, like he is to his patients. The pair shared a special bond.

From their bond came their daughter. However, Struthers didn't want children when she and Rader first married. She said:

"I was the first one to say that it wasn't going to make me fulfilled, that I didn't need a carbon copy of myself. Then you fall in love with someone, and you want to be the mother of a child that is part of that man."

She admitted she was worried because she remembered how she felt when her father remarried and thought Rader's children from his previous relationship might not be happy about a new baby.

Rader had three children who were 14, 18, and 19 when Struthers announced that she was expecting a baby. She mentioned that she had no intention of telling them about the pregnancy until the last possible moment.

She confessed she waited until her belly was so big that she could not pull her pants up before she told them. Even then, she said they weren't excited by the birth until they knew she would not affect their relationship with their father. Struthers then said:

"Now they're crazy about Samantha.”

Struthers didn't stop trying to have her own show when her child was born. She said she wanted to live a normal life and have a job, but she didn't want it to be too far from home, so she was close to her child.

The actress had opportunities on Broadway, but they were going to remove her from home for a short time, and she said: "I want a regular job where I won't have to leave town. Dreams change if your priorities are family and children."

Struthers' Daughter Didn't Follow in Her Footsteps: Who Is She?

Rader and Struthers welcomed one daughter, Samantha, together after she left "All in the Family," and Struthers prioritized her over everything else. However, Samantha did not follow in her mother's footsteps.

In fact, she somewhat followed her father's sense of career direction and became a clinical psychologist. She founded a practice called "Source Code." While she is not famous, she is very active on social media.

Samantha posts advice videos and shares posts from her travels. While she has not entered show business, she has a beautiful singing voice and occasionally shows it off in videos on social media.

Subscribe to AmoMama on Google News!