Lucie Arnaz, daughter of comedy legends Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, is opening up about her late father’s long battle with addiction—and the moment that became her most cherished memory with him.
In an emotional interview with CBS Sunday Morning on June 15, the 73-year-old actress spoke candidly about Desi Arnaz’s decades-long struggle with alcohol and how he eventually found the courage to seek help—albeit too late.
“My greatest memory of him,” she shared, “was standing next to him in a treatment center in La Jolla, hearing him say, ‘My name is Desi, and I’m an alcoholic.’”
“This was the same man who once said, ‘I don’t air my dirty laundry in public.’ Watching him take responsibility—that was my proudest moment.”
A Private Battle Comes to Light
Desi Arnaz, a groundbreaking TV icon best known for I Love Lucy, was never one to talk openly about his demons. According to Lucie, her father wasn’t easily changed. But after years of denial and silence, he finally committed to attending AA meetings and entering a treatment program in the mid-1980s.
“He waited too long—about three years too late,” Lucie said. “By the time he got clean, he’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. He only lived another year.”
Lucie noted that Desi’s pride often kept him from asking for help. He even avoided being involved when Desi Jr., his son, sought recovery for alcoholism years earlier.
But everything shifted after the death of Desi’s second wife, Edith Hirsch, in 1985.
“He told my brother, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ And he asked for help.”
Desi entered rehab under the pseudonym “Bill Sanchez” at the Scripps McDonald Center in La Jolla—a facility his son had attended in 1981. Desi Jr. told biographer Todd S. Purdum that it was a full-circle moment.
“I told him, ‘I can’t fix this for you, but there’s a place that can.’ And he got it.”
Beyond the Spotlight
Despite his fame, Lucie says her father often felt the most alone at the peak of his success.
“That’s when he realized the emptiness—at the crest of his success. He didn’t stop drinking. He didn’t know what the real poison was.”
Desi’s personal life was just as complicated. While his marriage to Lucille Ball captivated the public, Lucie confirmed rumors of his infidelity—though she clarified it wasn’t romantic.
“He didn’t have affairs,” she explained. “These women were prostitutes. He didn’t even know their names.”
Surprisingly, Lucille Ball understood. Lucie believes that’s what kept them together as long as they lasted.
“He loved my mother. She understood the situation. I don’t think I could’ve done what she did.”
Lucille and Desi were married in 1940 and divorced in 1960 after a 20-year relationship that produced two children and one of the most iconic TV shows in history.
Hollywood vs. Reality
Lucie also weighed in on the 2021 Amazon film Being the Ricardos, which dramatized her parents’ lives. While she appreciated the effort, she says Aaron Sorkin, the director, ignored key facts—especially about her mother’s working relationships.
“They got it wrong,” Lucie said. “My mom adored her writers. There was no backstabbing, no drama like they showed.”
Looking back, Lucie is proud of the personal progress her father made, even if it came near the end of his life.
“It doesn’t matter when you get there, as long as you get there.”
