Carol Burnett, a SIX-TIME Golden Globe winner, is a comedy industry legend.
Even though she makes an effort to make other people’s lives more enjoyable, the tragic early death of her daughter Carrie has left a lasting impression on her life.
Who was Carrie Hamilton? Carol Burnett’s daughter
On December 5, 1963, in New York City, Carrie Hamilton was born.
The actress appeared in films like Tokyo Pop and Shag as well as TV shows like Fame.
Hamilton was discussed in a Carol & Company episode from 1990.
She co-wrote Hollywood Arms with her mother, a play based on Burnett’s 1986 autobiography, One More Time.
What happened to Carrie Hamilton?
Burnett’s eldest daughter, who had lung cancer, passed away.
Early in her life, Hamilton smoked cigarettes, and she battled a serious drug and alcohol addiction.
On January 20, 2002, she passed away at the age of 38 from brain cancer that had spread from her lungs.
“There’s not a day or almost a moment goes by that she’s not with me,” Burnett told PEOPLE in April 2023. “We worked together, we laughed together, we cried together. She was a force.”
And as Burnett approaches 90 years of life, she never forgets her daughter.
“When she got sick, I remember she was in the hospital and I would go to see her every day,” Burnett recalled.
“One day, a nurse at the hospital said, ‘Carrie cheers us up.’ I asked Carrie why she was always cheerful, and her reply was, ‘Everyday I wake up and decide.’ That’s the key word, decide.”
She added: “I say that to myself every morning.”
“It’s taking [it] one day at a time,” Burnett told the outlet. “You don’t know. Life can change on a dime. So just be grateful for today what you have.”
As a memorial to her late daughter, Burnett released a memoir titled Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story in 2014.
Over the course of her life, Burnett has been married three times.
Don Saroyan, her college sweetheart, was the subject of her first marriage, which ended in divorce seven years later.
Before divorcing in 1984, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton in 1963. The couple had three children together, Carrie, Jody, and Erin Hamilton.
