THE TRUE SIDE OF BETTY HUTTON

 A few years ago I published an article on my blog about Betty Hutton and her three daughters. Betty has been gone now for over sixteen years, and her three daughters are themselves becoming older women. However, the comments have been overwhelming to what happened to the relationship or lack of relationship Betty had with them. Everyone has an opinion on why the daughters did not go to Betty's funeral, but no one truly knows what went on being the offspring of a troubled Hollywood star but those daughters. 

Here are some of the comments I got via my blog or to my email that I wanted to share:

"I saw the Betty Hutton interview on TCM, when it first aired. Knowing first hand, from one of the countless people who tried to help her, what a delusional, self-centered egotist she could be, seeing her decades later was just more of the same. She never took any responsibility for the grief she had caused herself and others, instead, whining that the cast of ''Annie Get Your Gun'' hated her. That is just one example. There are people who have had horrible role models, but rose above the chaos and misery to become fine human beings. Betty Hutton chose to be a professional victim to the end. There are enough stories told by her peers in Hollywood to more than suggest that she cared for nobody but herself. She may have gotten away with that while she was riding high and making big money, but it caught up with her before long. Her daughter were probably trying to avoid any more heartache at her hands. And, in the end, she got precisely what she deserver." - Phil Lindholm, 10/21/2019

"This was the woman who said in an interview "My children didn't bring me happiness" when her youngest daughter was just 13 years old. Remarks like that can kill the last lingering shreds of affection a child has toward an absent and shaky parent. I just watched the interview with Robert Osborn that replayed on the movie channel last night. Hutton as an old woman was bubbly, pious, unfiltered, but seemingly lacking in self-awareness of her part in her own misfortune and estrangements. Children estranged from a parent always, always have a valid point of view, even when reconciliation is possible. Hutton came across as incapable of recognizing or acknowledging any point of view but her own." -Jaiquai, 3/19/2017

"I was neighbors with Betty in her later years in Palm Springs, and I asked her about her daughters because she did not have pictures around her place. She told me that they were part of her old life. I found that to be odd. They were part of her old life but she had pictures all around her of old stars she worked with like Howard Keel and Bing Crosby. To me it seemed like she blamed everyone else but herself. Talking about Hollywood, she blamed her co-stars. Talking about her ex husbands, she blamed them. I went out to lunch with her a few times, and it was embarrassing how she still thought she was Hollywood royalty. Once Betty realized I wasn't going to crazy over who she was, we sort of stopped talking" - Annoymous. 2/16/2023

In the 1990s, I interviewed actress Marjorie Reynolds's daughter Linda, and she gave me some interesting accounts of Betty Hutton's behavior at Paramount Studios in the 1940s. I'll have to dig those out. Sadly, there is a lot of Hollywood stories out there about stars like Betty. Betty was a great star and talented entertainer, but sadly it did not transfer to her private life.

If anyone is in touch with anyone that knew Betty Hutton, please feel free to reach out to me. I want to hear your stories!