‘The Facts of Life’ revival spoiled by greedy costar, Mindy Cohn says

You take the good, you take the bad — but do you have to take the backstabbing too?

The Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn says she and two of her castmates were betrayed when the fourth member of their friendly quartet spoiled plans for a revival of the beloved ‘80s sitcom.

Appearing on SiriusXM’s Jeff Lewis Live, Cohn told Lewis that talk of a reunion began during the COVID–19 lockdowns.

“There was this roundtable with Octavia Spencer and Amy Poehler and Jennifer Aniston where they all said, ‘Yeah, our parents grew up with All in the Family, but we grew up with Facts of Life,’” the actress said. “That’s the Norman Lear sitcom that we love.”

This caught Lear’s attention, so he tossed out the question “are you guys interested” to the show’s core four: Cohn (Natalie), Lisa Whelchel (Blair), Kim Fields (Tootie), and Nancy McKeon (Jo). Soon after, they hired a writer and started meeting about the revival over Zoom. But what happened next, says Cohn, “was not cute.”

“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,” Cohn said.

Actor Michael Hitchcock, who appeared on the podcast episode with Cohn, sympathized with her plight.

“There’s always a greedy bitch,” he said, to which Cohn replied, “You know what, Michael Hitchcock? Greedy bitch. She was a greedy bitch. I’ll say it.”

Although Cohn refused to name names, she did suggest that a scroll through her Instagram account would give a clue about which former castmates she spends time with — and with whom she does not.

“A couple of people can’t move past it, don’t want to move past it. We are not as united,” Cohn said. “We were united for 40 years over not talking about each other, not doing dirty, not, you know, all for one, one for all. And this kind of wrecked that, which is sad. Really sad.”

Cohn most recently appeared in Kristen Wiig’s Apple TV+ comedy Palm Royale, which earned 11 Emmy nominations this month, while Fields is a regular on Wanda Sykes’ Netflix sitcom, The Upshaws. In February, Cohn, Whelchel, and McKeon reunited on The Drew Barrymore Show to help celebrate Barrymore’s 49th birthday.

The Facts of Life aired for nine seasons, from 1979 until 1988. Its key quartet last got together on screen for the 2019 Lifetime holiday film You Light Up My Life. Cohn, Fields, and Whelchel revived their Facts characters in a 2001 reunion movie that McKeon missed because she was working on the four-season Lifetime police show The Division.

During her appearance on his podcast, Cohn told Lewis that the three women were back on speaking terms with the person who tried to cut a deal for a spinoff. “We didn’t [talk] for a while, and now we do-ish,” she said, “but the trust is gone.”

Cohn continued, “Some people are so desperate for either money or fame that it causes them to do things that, to me, I guess I’m still not that jaded. It shocks me. You’re gonna do that over money or that over becoming famous? It always just kind of freaks me out that people will do that: throw friendships, deep true friendships, under the bus for a dollar.”

A representative for Cohn did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for more information or comment.