‘I Love Lucy’: Lucie Arnaz Shares What It Was Really Like Being the Daughter of Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball’s daughter reflects on what it was like growing up with the ‘I Love Lucy’ star as a mother.
When Lucie Arnaz was a young girl, her friends often said they wished they could have her mother, the legendary Lucille Ball, as their own. They dreamt of the laughter, the unforgettable moments, and the magic that came with having a comedic icon for a mom. But, as Arnaz reveals, her childhood wasn’t always the whimsical, laughter-filled existence that others might have imagined.
Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz Jr. | Bettmann, Getty Images
Lucille Ball wasn’t home a lot
When friends would tell Lucie Arnaz they wished they had Lucille Ball as a mother, Arnaz recalls responding with a hint of surprise, “Really? Would you? Because she’s a pretty busy lady.”
Though Arnaz spent plenty of time with her mom on set, it’s the quiet, everyday moments at home that she cherishes most.
“I always come back to the simple moments, the ones where she was just at home with us, taking time to be present,” Lucie Arnaz shared with Yahoo Entertainment. “Even the smallest, silliest memories—like making a grilled cheese sandwich in the kitchen—mean the most.”
Until she was 7, Arnaz explains, the family only really had time together late at night or on weekends. “We were fortunate to have some hiatus periods, weekends off, and summers, especially when we had a house in Del Mar,” she adds.
At home, Lucille Ball was all business
While Lucille Ball became famous for her wacky, zany persona on I Love Lucy, Lucie Arnaz says that wasn’t the case at home.
“She played this incredibly funny, outrageous character on the show, and all my friends used to think she was like that in real life,” Arnaz shared with the Television Academy Foundation. “But at home, she wasn’t like that at all. She was very responsible, always handling business. She worried about everything—whether we were taken care of, if the garage was cleaned out, if we were doing our homework. She really saw herself as a homemaker.”
Since Lucille Ball was very much a “working mom,” Lucie Arnaz believes that her mother often felt guilty about not being able to devote more time to her children, especially in an era when traditional family dynamics were more rigid. “She felt the pressure of balancing her career with motherhood, which was a tough thing for any woman at the time,” Arnaz explained. “She wanted to be there for us, but her career was so demanding. She carried that guilt with her.”
“I think because she was a working mom in the ’50s, there probably was a lot of guilt involved in not being home with the kids, because you’re supposed to be, I guess,” Lucie Arnaz shared, reflecting on her mother’s internal struggles as a working mother during that time. Despite her massive career success, Ball, like many women of the era, grappled with the societal expectations that came with being a mother, especially in a time when the idea of a woman managing both home and career was still very much at odds with conventional thinking.