Comedian Brett Butler grace under fire alcoholism and abuse, net worth
Brett Butler, a $35 million comedy star, is currently fundraising on GoFundMe.
She earned $350,000 per episode as one of the 1990s' biggest comedy queens. After 25 years, actress Brett Butler is pleading with fans for financial assistance.
Brett Butler, the actress and comedian who starred in the classic 1990s series Grace Under Fire, has admitted she is broke after a friend set up a GoFundMe to assist her pay her bills.
Butler — who earned $350,000 per episode as a star on the iconic 1990s sitcom — told the Hollywood Reporter she was six months late on her rent. The 63-year-old, who earned an estimated $35 million during her tenure on the comedy, admitted she may have delayed too long to allow her friend to start the GoFundMe.
“I've been embarrassed,” she stated. “I'm nearly dying of embarrassment.”
Butler's life and struggles with alcoholism and abuse inspired Grace Under Fire. Butler starred in the sitcom from 1993 to 1998 as a single mother raising her three children alone after leaving her abusive husband.
Butler explained to the publication that the stress of appearing on television contributed to her Vicodin addiction. She was prescribed the medication to alleviate her sciatica pain. “Towards the bloody bitter end, I was truly difficult,” she admitted. Butler also confessed that she recalls approximately 80 of the 112 episodes she shot during the decade.
“I had lost my mind. That is what drugs will do to you. The show should have been canceled sooner,” noted the actor, who recently appeared in AppleTV's The Morning Show as Reese Witherspoon's mother. She said that she eventually became sober following the cancellation of the show. However, poor financial judgments and theft by people she believed she could trust contributed to her financial difficulties. Additionally, the epidemic contributed to her current financial situation.
Butler explained, "I was a little too trusting of some of my employees, and I had a lot of items taken." That is simply irresponsible on my side not to get insurance for those events. And to lend and distribute large sums of money. I felt so bad for having it that I almost couldn't get rid of it quickly enough.”
Butler returned to acting in 2011 and approached Chuck Lorre, the creator of Grace Under Fire, for work. Butler was hired by the producer of Two and a Half Men for a role in his show Anger Management. Butler has since appeared as a guest star on episodes of How to Get Away With Murder and The Walking Dead.
“I am not alone in this boat,” she explained. “The majority of people in it have never had the opportunities I did. It does not alleviate my self-loathing or fear of it, but I am aware of it.”
The GoFundMe campaign has already surpassed its initial goal of $US20,000 and is on track to raise more than $US30,000 for the singer.
“Like many others, she has found herself in a precarious situation over the last year, and desperation has set in,” her friend says on the fundraising website. “I am not exaggerating when I use those terms. It is critical. Brett has depleted all of her finances, and the imminent eviction is putting her mentally and physically under strain. Kindly assist! It is critical!”