'I Dream Of Jeannie' Star Barbara Eden Unbottles Her Tragic Life in Memoir

By PopEater Staff Posted Jul 19th 2010 04:30PM

Life isn't quite a fantasy for 'I Dream Of Jeannie' star Barbara Eden. Now 75, the actress is penning a tell-all memoir called 'Jeannie Out of the Bottle' that details her public and private tragedies that came with her Hollywood fame, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The book will also include intimate details about her two failed marriage, how she survived an abusive cocaine-addicted husband and her "emotional breakdown" following the loss of her only son to drugs.

"Like Jeannie, I've been bottled up long enough -- it's time for me to pop the cork and talk about the amazing people I've been fortunate enough to meet along the way, and the highs and lows of my everyday living," Eden said in a statement.

A source tells the National Enquirer that she "longed for what she didn't have - a happy family life," and it will all finally be revealed in her memoir, which is due out next year.

Although Eden will mostly be remembered as a smiling, naive genie on the '60s sitcom 'I Dream Of Jeannie,' Eden's life has been a roller coaster. She was born in Tucson, Arizona, and her parents divorced when she was three. The Great Depression deeply affected her family, who were unable to afford many luxuries.

Her start in Hollywood came after she starred in a play with James Drury. Film director Mark Robson, who later directed her in the movie 'From The Terrace,' had come to the play and wanted her for 20th Century Fox studios. She went on to star in 'The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and 'Swingin' Along.' Her last film for 20th Century Fox was 'The Yellow Canary' in 1963; she left due to budget cuts.

Her personal life was littered with several upsets as well. Eden has been married three times. She met actor Michael Ansara in October 1957, as part of a blind date arranged by her publicist. They married in 1958. But the marriage began to fall apart when Eden had difficulty conceiving and her first pregnancy in 1961 ended in miscarriage.

Her son Matthew Ansara was born Sunday, August 29, 1965, during the of the first season of 'I Dream of Jeannie.' In the book, Eden reveals Matthew started smoking pot at 10, then began shooting heroin. He eventually died on June 25, 2001 at age 35 from a drug overdose.

Her third pregnancy ended abruptly in 1971 when she delivered a stillborn baby six weeks before her due date. Ansara and Eden divorced in May 1974. At this point, Eden reveals she had "an emotional breakdown."

Eden was married to her second husband, Chicago Sun-Times executive Charles Donald Fegert, from September 1977 to 1983. She married her third and current husband, a Los Angeles real estate developer Jon Trusdale Eicholtz in 1991.

The book's title also implies the book will have its share of 'I Dream of Jeannie' stories and what it was like portraying a 2,000-year-old genie who shacks up with a Florida astronaut, played by actor Larry Hagman. Eden plans dish about her encounters with celebrities including Elvis Presley, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball, The Hollywood Reporter confirms.

While many of the books more juicy details haven't been revealed, Eden is nervous about the public's reaction. "Quite frankly, it scared the dickens out of me," Eden told The NY Times. "I was quite frightened of doing this. I've been asked several times, and it's daunting to talk about yourself. It gets to the soft spots inside you ... I'll just hold my nose and jump in."

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Comments

(300)

Monday 19 July

By loveliam

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Claudia (good name for you)
You have no idea what stories she has to tell, the many people she has had friendships with, I myself am very interested to read her book. I'm sure you'd buy Spencer Pratt's bio or maybe Snookie's- as they have so much life experience and acting talent to boot. Ms. Eden has led a life most people would envy- she was/is a beautiful woman whom like others have mentioned actually can act. I'm sure when you are in your seventies you will not think you're such hot stuff anymore. We all get old honey. Maybe you will be less bitter when you get over yourself.
And if you don't want to read her book, don't, go grab another Globe or Twitter your night away.

I wish I would have read your entire post before i replied. We can only hope you have the chance in your wonderful life to experience pain and suffering. What a callous person you must be. I'd really love to know what you consider worse than several miscarriages and then the death of your child- let me guess, they're out of lattes at Starbucks and you missed "My sweet 16" or Bridezilla this week.

By beb11572

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"Worse tragedies"? What could POSSIBLY be worse than burying your (only) child?

By John

This is a hell of a lot more interesting than the usual drug infested, self centered brats that show up on TV these days.

By jake192168

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

maybe she should hook up with mel gibson. he could provide a stable family enviroment for her.

By MZ

They should place KT in a telethon.

By s gallo

Hey MZ, that was a good one. We need to call Jerry Lewis and tell him we have the perfect poster child and his name is KT

By Bebe

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I put Jake there with him

By Claudia

SMJ: There are caring progessionals out there to help troubled individuals, not an unqualified TV actress. I don't see how writing a whiney book about her miserable life helps anyone. Let's hope she doesn't throw in advice. That could totally screw up someone who thinks from God's ears to actress's lips.

By Rose Ann

Who says she is not qualified. Real experience is better than some so-called expert that hasn't experienced anything, but has a degree and thinks he or she knows it all but hasn't had the actual experiences!! I have learned more from those with experience than from any Doctor or Counselor.

By Julia

Jeanie was adorable and made many people smile. It's sad to hear that Barbara Eden has had so many tragedies. I hope she's found some happiness with her current husband.

By vaughan

Jeanie/Barbra,Thanks for the memories to you and all of the I Dream of Jeanie crew !

By RYAN

cw...Im just saying....LOL......She was a hot hot hotty way back in the day,now she is 75 so that suggest to the reader of this story when this show came out......I guess some people need to put their heads back in the sand where it belongs.

By joni

I met both Barbara Eden & her son several times back in the late 70s. I worked in a store near her neighborhood, & they were both very nice when they came in. She was absolutely beautiful in person, & very friendly.

By Ray

KT must be living under a rock to not know about I Dream Of Jeanie. Sixties television may not win any awards for great drama, but it did finally break out of the box so to speak, and gave us many half hours of escapism, believable or not. Jeanies, Witches, Time Travel, Space Travel, etc. It was also a time when many big name film stars of the fourties and fifties made the transition to TV as they got older, and earned a whole new audience. Actors like Walter Brennan, Robert Young, Doris Day, Henry Fonda, Cloris Leachman, Agnes Moorehead, Donna Reed, Yvon DeCarlo,and many more embraced television as a lucrative medium to use their years of acting experience after Hollywood deamed them "too old" for the box office. Barbara Eden was fortunate to have scored a hit TV show at a relatively young age. I don't criticize her in the least for putting her experiences in a book for all to read.

By PRETTYGAL

Geeze, why so hateful.....no one cares anymore.......about anything........if you dont know her or like her (even you dont know her).......just move on.....the world does not turn only for the 20 somethings out there, even if they think it does

By Bernie

I LOVE BARBARA EDEN - I would love to buy her book, who could love a better role model??

By thelawman3026

another once beautiful ,mediocre actress crying about how hard it was to have been rich and famous, and now she must be broke and writes abook that thousands of chumps will buy,, lol jeanie get back in your bottle and save your sob stories

By lily

Oh, shut up.

By skip

kt- too bad you never saw the show. Guess you missed out on the Jeannie fantasy!

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