'Facts of Life' star Lisa Whelchel explains why she didn't release more music after her '80s solo album
The actress also discusses returning to season 2 of 'Collector's Call' on MeTV.
"The Facts of Life" stars are back in the spotlight after one star’s claims that fans were denied a reboot because one of the core four — Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn and Nancy McKeon — was a "greedy b----."
Whelchel was photographed in Los Angeles last week smiling. On Thursday, she sported a red shirt with a white heart logo that said "love" on it while walking around her neighborhood.
The next day, Whelchel wore a bright pink shirt and colorful pants as she smiled while being photographed.
The photos of Whelchel came just days after "Facts of Life" co-star Cohn was on Sirius XM’s "Jeff Lewis Live," where she revealed a reboot of the show had been in the works but fell apart thanks to an unamed "greedy b----."
"The Facts of Life" star Lisa Whelchel was photographed in Los Angeles, days after co-star Mindy Cohn said a reboot of their show fell apart due to a "greedy bitch." (SplashNews.com)
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Cohn explained that after the success of an ABC special, "Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes," in 2021, which featured an all-star recreation of episodes of both shows, including Jennifer Aniston in Whelchel’s role, series creator Norman Lear reached out to the cast.
"He said, ‘Are you guys interested?’ And we had all never really talked about it, but we all started to consider it a little bit, and we got into talks. And we hired a writer, and the four of us got together on Zooms. This was during COVID, and we had meetings with Norman about it," Cohn said.
Asked what happened, Cohn replied, "What happened was not cute. Yeah. There was, there was drama."
Pressed on the issue by Lewis and his co-hosts, Cohn said it was more than someone being "difficult."
Cohn appeared on Sirius XM's "Jeff Lewis Live," where she revealed there was almost a "Facts of Life" reboot, but drama among the cast prevented it from coming to fruition. (Getty Images)
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"More than that," Cohn said. "[She w]ent behind our backs and tried to make a separate deal for a spinoff just for herself and devastated the rest of us. … I had booked ‘Palm Royale,’ another girl is working. I'm just saying it was for a 40-year friendship and sisterhood. There was tidal wave of emotion around it.
"She was a greedy b----, I’ll say it," she added.
The 58-year-old said the actresses didn’t talk "for a while and now we do-ish, but there's definitely, it was an ouch."
She added that there is "no desire to ever work together" and the reboot is "dead. It’s very dead."
Cohn said the cast has "no desire to ever work together," and the reboot is "dead. It’s very dead." (Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage)
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"A couple of people can't move past it, don't want to move past it. We are not as united. Let me put it that way. We were united for 40 years over not talking about each other, not doing dirty, not, you know, all for one, one for all, and this kind of wrecked that, which is sad. Really sad," Cohn said.
The "Palm Royale" star was asked who the "greedy b----" was among her co-stars — Whelchel, Fields or McKeon.
"She was a greedy b----, I’ll say it."
Cohn refused to say but hinted that her Instagram contains the answer, noting who she spends time with and who she doesn’t is clear.
The hosts continued to attempt to guess, but they said Cohn wouldn't budge.
Cohn would not name the co-star she described as a "greedy b----." (NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)
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At the end of the show, a caller suggested it was Whelchel, based on combing through Cohn’s Instagram, but Cohn joked it was George Clooney, who appeared on the show early in his career.
Cohn did share recent birthday messages for Fields and McKeon but not Whelchel on her Instagram.
Representatives for Whelchel, McKeon, Fields and Cohn did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Whelchel posted a promo for her MeTV show "Collector’s Call," a few days after Cohn’s interview, where a few fans chimed in with their support for her amid speculation about who caused the reboot to fall apart.
Whelchel liked comments supporting her on a recent Instagram post but did not publicly address Cohn's interview. (Paul Archuleta)
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"FYI I am Team Lisa," one person wrote.
"You/Blair have been my favorite since I was a little kid…I really admire the class you’ve always shown including now. Lots of fans sending you support!" another person wrote.
Whelchel liked both comments.
On "Jeff Lewis Live," Cohn said she accepts that the revival didn’t get off the ground.
Cohn said she's accepted that the revival is no more, saying, "This thing should stay wrapped." (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
"No one wants to see us now," she said. "You know what’s cute? They want to see where you are now. They don’t want a show about it. Be honest.
"It should stay where it is," Cohn added, when the hosts mentioned other revivals like "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" and "Fuller House" as examples of success stories.
"I think it’s so good where it is. I think people would be so disappointed, don’t you really?" she said. "This thing should stay wrapped."
In May 2023, Whelchel spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about a potential reboot, saying, "There's been lots of conversations about that — and all of them are very exciting. But you have to hold all of them loosely because in this business something can be a wonderful idea and still not get made."
"A couple of people can't move past it, don't want to move past it. We are not as united."
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"The Facts of Life" aired from 1979 to 1988 on NBC, spinning off from the series "Diff’rent Strokes," both created by the late Norman Lear.
Charlotte Rae, who died in 2018 at age 92, reprised her role of Edna Garrett from "Diff’rent Strokes" to lead "The Facts of Life" as housemother for an all-girls boarding school. Whelchel starred as rich girl Blair; along with Fields as Tootie, the youngest girl in the house; Cohn as Natalie, a writer type; and McKeon as Jo, the tough tomboy of the group.
"The Facts of Life" has remained popular and beloved over the years, running in syndication for years on multiple networks.
In 2001, most of the cast reunited for "The Facts of Life Reunion" TV movie on ABC. The only missing member was McKeon, who had scheduling conflicts with her work on the Lifetime TV series "The Division."
"The Facts of Life" ran from 1979 to 1988 on NBC. (Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
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The cast has reunited off and on over the years as well for other projects.
In 2019, Fields starred in and produced the Lifetime holiday film "You Light Up My Christmas" and hired her one-time co-stars to work with her.
"My ‘Facts of Life’ sisters, as executive producer, I was able to just call some folks," Fields told People at the time. "But, also, just from the standpoint of, this time of year, this season of family and nostalgia and memories. And I said, ‘You know, I’d love to create a series of sequence in a couple of scenes, where we are together.’"
Fields also highlighted the women’s close relationships.
Fields said in 2019 that she and her co-stars are still close. When she had the chance to reunite for a new film, she said, "Working together, the three of them are still incredibly wonderful actors." (Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
"Well, we’ve been around each other all the time," Fields told the outlet. "Not all the time, but from the time we started living life after the show ended to now, we certainly have seen each other. Nancy and I went to a Michael McDonald concert last year in New York. Lisa and I did some promotional stuff in Toronto last year. Mindy and I had a pizza party. … So, we see each other. It was like an ‘Oh my gosh!’ If anything, that comes to play when we see the kids, when they see their nephews, my kids, or that sort of thing. Or Lisa’s daughter, who is pregnant now, and she was on set.
"Working together, the three of them are still incredibly wonderful actors."
Three of the four cast members — Cohn, Whelchel and Fields — appeared in the special "Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes" in 2021. McKeon missed out.
Whelchel told "Extra" at the time, "We missed Nancy McKeon. It was sad not to have the four of us together, but it’s always fun. Nancy was home, and they just recently moved. And her kids just got into school, so it was difficult for her to make the trip out."
In 2021, Cohn, Whelchel and Fields reunited for "Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes" on ABC. (Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty Images)
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Whelchel told the outlet the women keep in touch.
"We have a little group thread we call the ‘sisters thread,’" she noted.
Earlier this year, Cohn, McKeon and Whelchel appeared on "The Drew Barrymore Show," sans Fields, to celebrate superfan Barrymore’s birthday.
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