The Tragic Life Of Desiree Anzalone, The Great-Granddaughter Of Desi Arnaz And Lucille Ball
Despite the fact that Lucille Ball has been dead for more than three decades, she is still remembered and loved by many people.
Along with and her husband, Desi Arnaz, they were a television power couple in their own right. She and I Love Lucy launched them to fame as the best comic actress of the 1950s.
Lucille was a successful model and film actor before she rose to fame on television.
Because her great-granddaughter resembled her well-known great-grandmother, Lucille Ball’s legacy endured.
In 2020, the tragic death of 31-year-old Desiree Anzalone occurred.
I Love Lucy’s popularity brought Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to the center of pop culture, and the show itself had a profound impact on television history. In that it was among the first sitcoms to be recorded in front of a live studio audience, it was revolutionary.
Although Desi Arnaz Jr.’s birth was one of the most widely covered in television history, growing up as the offspring of two well-known celebrities was undoubtedly difficult. He has already admitted to engaging in heavy drinking when he was a young guy in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s.
Despite not getting in touch with his daughter Julia until about 20 years later, Arnaz Jr. made an effort to be present for his granddaughter Desiree Anzalone to make up for his previous absence.
I Love Lucy actress Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz Jr. the same night as the show aired, launching Arnaz Jr. into stardom.
The youngster was nurtured by Hollywood royalty and went on to become a teen star of his own in Here’s Lucy, the other film his parents worked on.
Around this time, he started dating model Susan Callahan-Howe, who would eventually give birth to his daughter. Desi Jr. and Susan were able to discover one another and begin dating when they were both 15 years old, despite the age gap between them. After a protracted separation, Desi Jr. and Julia, his daughter, were reconciled.
Julia never had the chance to meet her fabled grandmother Lucille because this took place after she had already passed away.
Callahan, who unfortunately died from COVID-19 in 2020, had spent years persuading her daughter that her father was a famous person. Later, in 1991, Julia made the decision to conduct a paternity test to finally put the matter to rest.
”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.”
As Julia stated, her father also became close with Desiree Anzalone, the daughter of one of her friends. She continued to elaborate on the amount of time they spent together and how Desiree stayed at Arnaz Jr.’s place for a while.
Because Julia’s grandmother Lucille Desiree won an Emmy, the actress was given her middle name in honor of her.
Desiree, a graduate of UNT with a degree in creative writing, was employed there as a photographer.
The young woman, then 25, was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, per People.
After Anzalone’s double mastectomy, the cancer initially went into remission but later returned and metastasized to her lungs, liver, and bones.
In 2020 Desiree’s sadly passed away.
“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 told People. “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.”
Mother Julia Arnaz announced her intention to become an activist in May 2021, telling Page Six that she was devastated by her daughter’s death from the same condition.
She is dedicated to increasing access to mammograms in her native Connecticut. Arnaz intends to encourage younger women to start getting these checks sooner rather than later, even though they are normally suggested as routine for older women.
“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.”
Despite the tragedy that befell her family, Julia Arnaz has not stopped speaking out about this topic in the public.
“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.”
Rest in Peace Beautiful Angel!
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