Sally Struthers Looked Stunning in Rare Appearance Ahead of Her 76th Birthday after Weight Gain and Divorce

• Sally Struthers from "All In The Family" recently shared what it was like for her to be on the show.
• At 76, Struthers, who rarely appears in interviews, seemed much thinner in a recent sit-down.
• She was a successful actress and a wonderful mother to her only daughter, Samantha.

American actress Sally Struthers was well known for her roles in "All In The Family," "Gloria," and "Gilmore Girls." However, she has hardly appeared in public or talked about her life, years after "All In The Family."

Recently, she gave a rare interview in which she detailed her life while on the show, why she left, and how she felt after. The actress looked stunning and significantly slimmer.

"All In The Family" ran for nine seasons, garnering fame for its cast and crew. While the series, in which she played Gloria Stivic, made Struthers a household name, it also changed her as a person.

Struthers called the show's creator, Norman Lear, the "father of [them] all" because of how he fought for the show to be frank. This was nothing that Hollywood had ever seen before in a series.

Because of how Lear conducted himself and the show's creation, Struthers said it changed her. She shared:

"At first, I behaved like an idiot on set. I thought that was the way to get people to like me. I've been educated on the set. I've learned to be myself. And now, they respect me."

Not only did the series help Struthers learn to be herself, but it also brought her closer to her family. The actress said that while she thought her family might be offended by some of the content in the series, they actually enjoyed the show and even giggled at the jokes.

What Was Struthers' Life Like After the Show?

While Struthers was on the show, she and her co-stars had an excellent time. They became famous rather quickly and forged friendships on set. However, one friendship with her onscreen husband caused friction in her personal life.

Struthers' T.V. husband, Rob Reiner, once asked her not to greet his real-life wife until she had greeted Struthers. Apparently, Reiner's wife took Struthers saying hello to her first to mean that Struthers and Reiner were sleeping together, and Struthers was trying to cover it up. Thus, Struthers agreed to wait for Reiner's wife to greet her and then joked:

"I waited three years."

And while Reiner's relationship with his wife stood in the way of Mrs. Reiner greeting Struthers, her life was going well. Struthers began her role on "All In The Family" when she was 22 and a single woman. However, a decade later, she had already been married to an L.A. psychiatrist.

Struthers and her husband, William C. Rader, welcomed a daughter named Samantha, after the nickname her own mother gave her as a little girl: "Samantha Featherhead."

Rader and Struthers were a picture of the perfect family living the American dream, but Struthers admitted she had not always wanted children. She felt having a child wouldn't make her feel fulfilled, and she didn't need a carbon copy of herself. However, when she met and fell in love with Rader, she knew she wanted to carry a child with his genetics.

Although excited to welcome her daughter, Struthers was mindful of how Rader's three children from a previous marriage would react to the news. They were all in their teens then and only needed reassurance that their relationship with their father wouldn't change before they fully embraced their little sister. Unfortunately, Rader and Struthers would later divorce after three years of marriage.

After leaving "All In The Family," Struthers' professional life was not doing as well. In 1981, she decided she would take back her power and begin controlling her career. She assured CBS executives that she would never revive her role as Gloria Stivic again.

She believed her TV bosses had foiled the production on her Mother Struthers Productions series called "Me? On the Radio?" so she would be forced into a spinoff of "All In The Family."

Struthers also revealed that her husband had often been blamed for the lull in her career after she left "All In The Family," but she confirmed that it was only because she trusted him more than she trusted studio execs.

While she praised Rader for his role in her life, she admitted that they did argue, but that it never got them down. Rader also shared:

"I'm tough, and she's tough, and at times that means conflict. But I'm a husband, not a psychiatrist, to my wife. I feel she's helped me more than I've helped her."

Although Struthers wanted to get her career back on track, she also clarified that she wanted a regular job where she wouldn't often have to leave town as her priorities had changed to encompass Rader and their child.

As Struthers forged on in her career and continued to warm viewers' hearts worldwide, she became fuller-figured through the years. However, it did not stop the actress from appearing onscreen.

Now, in a rare appearance just before her 76th birthday, with an Australian interviewer, the actress appeared to have lost significant weight and looked happy. She wore a black outfit and was much thinner than the last time she was interviewed. Throughout the interview, she animatedly talked about her experiences in Hollywood.

Struthers as a Wife and Mother

While Struthers, Rader, and his children were ecstatic when they welcomed Samantha into the family, Struthers initially found motherhood "intimidating." Even though the actress had a full-time nanny, she was still shocked at what motherhood meant for her.

She confessed she was surprised that women would have more than one child, admitting that she didn't want to have many. The actress joked that she felt like she was still a child herself. Rader agreed that Struthers still had the spirit of a child, but he appreciated that about her. He gushed:

"Sally can literally fall on the floor laughing. What I'm trying to learn from her is that innocence, that freedom."

The couple's daughter, Samantha, has followed in her father's footsteps rather than her mother's. Samantha became a clinical psychologist and founded her own practice called "Source Code."

Samantha is active on social media and often posts videos, giving her followers advice and sometimes sharing her singing talent. Struthers is not as involved in Hollywood as she once was but is still much beloved by fans.

Subscribe to AmoMama on Google News!