Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s daughter says her parents’ divorce was “horrible”
<p>The famous TV couple split in 1960 and now – almost 60 years later – their daughter, Lucie Arnaz, has opened up about her parents’ tumultuous marriage and “horrible” divorce.</p>
<p>In a new interview with <em><a href="https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/lucille-ball-desi-arnaz-divorce-163949">Closer Weekly</a></em> magazine in the US, Lucie admitted, “They were fighting all the time when we were growing up. There was a lot of anger and screaming.”</p>
<p>Now 67 years old, Lucie also recalled, “Their divorce was horrible. And then there was the alcoholism.”</p>
<p>She added about her late parents’ contentious marriage, “I had preferred those things had never been there. We didn’t have any abuse, but we did go through some pretty hard stuff and that’s why my parents didn’t stay together.”</p>
<p>Ball and Arnaz met on the set of <em>Too Many Girls</em> 20 years earlier in 1940.</p>
<p>The red-headed glamour, who was 28 years old, and the charismatic Cuban-born nightclub bandleader, who was 23, married just six months later.</p>
<p>While Ball was busy working in Hollywood, Arnaz toured America with his rumba band – but their marriage began to suffer from the strain of constant separation.</p>
<p>When CBS launched a TV version of its radio show called <em>My Favourite Husband</em>, Ball insisted that her real-life husband be cast to play her on-screen spouse. And the rest is history.</p>
<p><em>I Love Lucy</em> had a six-year run and became the most successful comedy series on television – with 40 million viewers watching each week – and earning the couple’s production company, Desilu, millions of dollars.</p>
<p>Their daughter Lucie, who has also written a book called <em>I Love Lucy</em>, wrote in the introduction, “All their hopes, plans and dreams for a happy future were wrapped up in that TV sitcom.” </p>
<p>Sadly, off-screen, the couple’s marriage was plagued with alcoholism and infidelity.</p>
<p>During divorce proceedings, Ball admitted in court, “It got so bad that I thought it would be better for us not to be together.”</p>
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