Step aside, Aladdin! Barbara Eden, the woman who made the world dream of genies, celebrates her 92nd birthday on 23 August, and she looks amazing!
Eden, who turned fans into shamelessly hoping for their own blonde to grant them a wish, is still adored almost 60 years on from when she first appeared on I Dream of Jeannie.
But while on screen she could pose and work magic, in real life she was unable to save her son, who died of a heroin overdose in 2001.
Born during the Great Depression, Barbara Eden, who turns 92 on 23 August 2023, turned poverty into luxury when she began acting in film (A Private’s Affair, Twelve Hours to Kill) and television (The Jonny Carson Show, I love Lucy) in 1956.
In 1960, she captivated international audiences by starring alongside the ‘King of Rock “n” Roll’ Elvis Presley in the western ‘Flaming Star’.
And in 1965, the stunning blonde played Ginny, a beautiful genie who was freed by astronaut and captain of the U.S. Air Force Tony Nelson.
Eden won the hearts of fans with her impressive portrayal of the magical creature, which she played for five seasons of the sci-fi sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, with Larry Hagman playing her love interest, Nelson.
In the same year that she achieved superstardom as Jeannie, Eden and her husband, actor Michael Ansara (known for his starring role in the 60s TV series Broken Arrow) had a son, Matthew Ansara, who was born on 29 August 1965.
When Matthew was nine, his parents ended their 15-year marriage and Eden, who married two more times, believes her son went down the wrong path – to drugs.
The Harper Valley PTA star explained she first noticed Matthew’s problems in 1984 when, aged 19, he moved in with his father after her remarriage. After returning from a second divorce, Eden said he slept around a lot and lied about going to college.
‘Matthew never told Mike and I that he was using heroin – he didn’t want to hurt us. But we guessed it because he was acting lethargic, losing weight, not going out all night. I insisted he be put in a rehab centre and let him come home when he got out after a month.’
The Stepford Kids star continued: ‘But he started using again. The professionals told us that if your child is using drugs, he’s become a drug himself: He’s not your child anymore, and he doesn’t have a home with you anymore. So I locked him up at home when he turned 20, and it was the hardest thing I ever had to do.’
Matthew, who started using drugs when he was just 10 years old, spent the next 12 years in and out of rehabilitation centres, with his parents plugging in to help him along the way.
When he visited, he would sometimes laugh and say, ‘Here I am, better lock it all up.’ But when he was sober, he would tell us, ‘I’m so sorry. I love you more than anyone in the world,‘’ Eden said of her son, who often stole their possessions when he came to visit.
Barbara Eden, American actress, in costume in a publicity shot for the American television series I Dream of Jeannie, circa 1967. Eden played the role of Jeannie in the sitcom (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images photo).
During a brief remission when he was 27, Matthew married and studied creative writing at UCLA, but ‘the cycle began again’ and his wife left.
Recalling how things took a turn for the worse, Eden says she confronted her son and ‘he got angry, threw things and left.’ After finding Matthew after months of searching, Eden learnt that he had been living on the streets most of the time.
One day, shortly after they broke up, he called me with a half-dead voice and said: ‘Mum, I’m sick.’ Mike’s wife and another friend came with me to a bad neighbourhood in Venice, California, and found him in his flat, unconscious from an overdose.’
Describing his living conditions as ‘filthy’, Eden continued. ‘He weighed 200lbs, but we three women lifted him to his feet, carried him to the car and took him to the hospital, which saved his life.’
At 29, he was diagnosed with clinical depression and was on medication that didn’t help.
At 31, Matthew got clean again and, following his parents’ example, played the lead role in the 2001 film To Protect and Serve and a supporting role in Con Games, which was released posthumously the same year.
In September of that year, he planned to wed a ‘wonderful girl.’
He once told me, ‘Life is wonderful, Mum. I can’t believe that for so many years I haven’t noticed the trees turning green.’ said Eden.
Barbara Eden son cause of death
Shortly after that conversation, at 3 a.m. on 26 June, Eden was jerked out of sleep by a phone call about her son,
Six hours before that call, police had found Matthew, 35, an amateur bodybuilder, hunched over the wheel of his lorry, where police also found ampoules of anabolic steroids he had used to gain mass for competitions.
Autopsy results showed that Matthew’s cause of death was an accidental drug overdose.
‘He was dead at the time. He had taken a dose of unusually pure heroin and it was too much for his heart,’ Eden said. ‘Even when he was getting in shape, he did it like a junkie – compulsively. He couldn’t do anything in moderation.’
Mourning the death of her only child, the writer and singer, who has been married to John Eicholtz since 1991, is still searching for answers.
‘Matthew took it terribly. He wanted his mum and dad to stay together. If I had to do it all over again, I would have waited until he was older. But then I reminded myself that many children from divorced families don’t become addicts.’ She continued: ‘He won a lot of battles. But his personal war he lost.’
The elder Ansara, who died at age 91 in 2013 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease, is buried next to his son at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
As for Eden, who retired in a pink harem costume as Jeannie, she can be seen in TV shows such as Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition and the 2019 film My Adventures with Santa, where she plays Mrs Claus. Her latest stage production is the 2019 film Love Letters.
Firstly, we would like to wish the lovely Barbara Eden a very happy birthday!
Next, we can’t imagine the pain of a parent losing a child and are so sorry for her loss. If someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact your local alcohol or drug abuse hotline – it could save their life.
Please share this story, and let’s send Eden the warm wishes and love she deserves!
