Despite having passed away thirty years ago, Lucille Ball is still cherished and remembered by a large number of people.

She became the most well-known comedy actress of the 1950s because to the television series I Love Lucy, in which she co-starred with her husband, Desi Arnaz.

She began her career as a model and film actor before being well-known for her work on television, and by the time her career was done, she had appeared in over 70 films.

Many ways Lucille Ball’s legacy persisted, and her great-granddaughter remarkably resembled her well-known great-grandmother.

Desiree Anzalone, 31, tragically passed away in 2020 in a very horrible way.

I Love Lucy made a lot of history and launched Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz into celebrity. As one of the first sitcoms to be shot in front of a live audience, it helped pave the way for a lot of later well-known comedies.

Two children were born to Lucille Ball’s two marriages. She married Desi Arnaz, with whom she co-starred in the 1940 film I Love Lucy, in 1940. Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. were the names of the couple’s two children.

Being the son of two famous people wasn’t easy, despite the fact that Desi Arnaz Jr.’s birth was one of the most widely covered in television history. He has already acknowledged that when growing up in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s, he partied excessively.

Being the son of two incredibly well-known television stars, he was surrounded by pressure and temptation. In actuality, he fathered a child at the tender age of 15.

Arnaz Jr. made an attempt to be there for his granddaughter, Desiree Anzalone, to make up for his past absence, even though he did not have a contact with his daughter Julia until almost 20 years later.

The infant grew up surrounded by Hollywood elite, later emerging as a teen star on his parents’ other project, Here’s Lucy.

Around this time, he met Susan Callahan-Howe, a model who would become the mother of his daughter.

Susan and Desi Jr. first connected when they were just 15 years old. However, Desi Jr. and Julia didn’t get back together for many years until the 1990s.

Sadly, Julia never got to meet her beloved grandmother Lucille because it was after her passing.

Callahan spent years telling her daughter that her father was famous before she tragically passed away in 2020 from COVID-19. Years later, Julia ultimately made the decision to establish paternity by performing a test.

”We did a DNA test when I was 20, and it came back 99.97% that I was indeed his daughter and then shortly after that my father and I started a beautiful relationship,” Julia added:

”By this time, I’m 18 and over. He could have said, ‘Yeah she’s my kid, whatever. But he didn’t. He helped me very much through my life and helped my daughter through college.”

That daughter was Desiree Anzalone, who Julia explained her father became close with as well. She went on to explain that they spent much time together and that Desiree even lived with Arnaz Jr. for a period of time.

Julia also named her daughter in honor of her Emmy Award-winning grandmother Lucille – the actress’ middle name was Desiree.

Desiree held a creative writing degree from the University of North Texas and worked as a photographer.

According to People, the young woman was 25 when she received her stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis.

After a double mastectomy, Anzalone momentarily experienced remission until her cancer reappeared and spread to her lungs, liver, and bones.

Unfortunately, Desiree’s life brutally ended in 2020. 

Julia Arnaz had to deal with her own mother dying of COVID-19 while her daughter suffered through stage 4 breast cancer during the 2020 pandemic. 

“The COVID-19 kept us apart, so I wasn’t able to see her as much as I usually do because she was compromised and I didn’t want her getting sick in any kind of way,” Julia explains. “So I wasn’t able to spend as much time with her as I normally do because of the COVID since March. I mean, I saw her, but not as much; we’d hang out every day practically she was here. Plus, she lived with me for a while.”

In May 2021, Julia Arnaz said that she was determined to work as an activist to help other young women prevent such quick advancement of the disease that took her daughter’s life.

She has committed to expanding mammogram coverage in her home state of Connecticut. While these are typically recommended as regular exams for older women, Arnaz hopes to advocate for younger women to begin them sooner rather than later. 

“Those four or five months, it’s a huge difference,” she explained. “And this beautiful angel, my daughter…so many young women might say, ‘Ah it’s a cyst, no big deal.’ But she really advocated for herself and I encourage other young women to do this.”

After her daughter’s tragic death, Julia Arnaz has continued to get her voice heard about this issue in the media and raise awareness. 

“It’s just not talked about a lot. It’s usually people in their late 30s, 40s, 50s — not somebody at this age,” Julia Arnaz explained. “So that was something that she really wanted — to help other women like her. A preventative, really.”

RIP beautiful angel!