Sally Struthers’ fans were convinced she was hitched to her ‘All in the Family’ on-screen husband Rob Reiner.
The 76-year-old actress was married to psychiatrist William Rader, 86, during her time on the beloved CBS show but has now revealed she was plagued by constant rumours she was hitched to Rob, 76, who plated her spouse Michael ‘Meathead’ Stivic in the 1970s sitcom.
She told Page Six about how she had to quit getting meals with Rob due to the false talk they were an item: “It became apparent rather quickly that my life had completely turned upside down.”
She added she and Rob would go out for lunch at The Grove in Los Angeles, but said “within two months, we couldn’t do that anymore”.
Sally added about her fans: “When they saw me with my real-life husband, they (would) go, ‘Where’s your husband?’”
And when the actress tried explaining she was hitched to William, she said they refused to listen and insisted she was married to ‘Meathead’.
She added: “People are so funny. They get an idea in their head, they’re like an old dog with a bone.”
Sally played Archie and Edith Bunker’s daughter Gloria Stivic on ‘All in the Family’ and says the sitcom, which ran for eight series from 1971 to 1979, was groundbreaking as it showed reality.
She said: “The Bunkers came along and they flushed toilets. “They didn’t have good manners at the table. They reached over one another for food… and they talked about real things.
“They peeled off the veneer. And you saw the less-than-perfect side of human beings.
“You saw the arguing and the vehemence and the bigotry. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle now. Everything got more honest after that.”
Sally, who had daughter Samantha with William, divorced the therapist in 1983, while dad-of-four Rob is hitched to his second wife Michele Singer, whom he wed in 1989.
