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(NewsNation) — Natalie and Blair are no longer besties.
Mindy Cohn dropped a bombshell Wednesday, insinuating Lisa Whelchel was the “greedy b—-” who ruined a revival of “The Facts of Life.”
‘Facts of Life’ reboot was in the works
Cohn, currently starring in “Palm Royals” with Kristen Wiig, told Jeff Lewis on his Sirius XM show that famed producer Norman Lear wanted to revive the beloved ’80s drama, but that a “greedy b—-” co-star sabotaged everything.
The idea for the reboot came after the success of the 2021 “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” special, where stars like Jennifer Aniston, Gabrielle Union and Kathryn Hahn acted out scenes from “The Facts of Life.”
“He called all of us and said, ‘I knew you guys were still popular, but holy hell,’” Cohn recalled Lear telling her.
“We had never really talked about it, but we all started to consider it a little bit,” Cohn said of a reboot. “We got into talks. 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.”
Drama over ‘The Facts of Life’ revival
But then things fell apart.
“What happened was not cute,” she said. “There was drama.”
Cohn went on to say: “One of the girls … went behind our backs and tried to make a separate deal for a spinoff just for herself and devastated the rest of us. I’m just saying … for a 40-year friendship and sisterhood, there was a tidal wave of emotion around it.”
While Cohn wouldn’t name the co-star whom she referred to as a “greedy b—-” she did insinuate that the person was not on her Instagram, which can only be Whelchel.
Do Mindy Cohn and Lisa Whelchel have beef?
The last time Cohn and Whelchel appeared happy together was on Cohen’s “Mondays With Mindy” podcast in 2021 (when talks for the show reboot first got underway).
Since then, the only castmates to appear in Cohn’s Instagram feed are Nancy McKeon — wishing the actress who played Jo on the hit show happy birthday on April 24 — and Kim Fields (who played Tootie). In an Instagram post from September 2022, featuring Cohn, Fields and McKeon, Cohn wrote: “Celebrating @thenormanlear 100th birthday with these brilliant, gorgeous women whom i proudly call my family.”
There are no postings of Whelchel.
In the Lewis interview, Cohn said the ordeal was so traumatic, she didn’t talk to (Whelchel) for a long time.
“We didn’t (talk) for a while. Now we do-ish. It was an ouch,” Cohn said, adding there is “no desire to ever work together” and that the show revival is “very dead.”
“A couple of people can’t move past it, don’t want to move past it,” Cohn explained.
“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 … you know, ‘All for one, one for all,’ and this kind of wrecked that, which is sad. Really sad.
“Some people are so desperate for either money or fame that it causes them to do things that to me … I guess I’m not that jaded. It shocks me.”
And Cohn is still upset, adding: “You’re gonna do that over money? Or that over becoming famous? It always freaks me out that people will do that. Throw friendships — deep, true friendships — under the bus for a dollar.”
Reps for Cohn and Whelchel didn’t return emails.
