Barbara Eden has set the record straight about her long-standing rumors of a feud with fellow 1960s sitcom star Elizabeth Montgomery.
The 94-year-old actress, widely known for I Dream of Jeannie, recently clarified that there was no animosity between her and the late Bewitched star, despite years of speculation.
Both shows were filmed on the Columbia Pictures during the late 60s, which often led to comparisons between the two magical-themed series.
Eden explained in a Fox News Digital interview that her encounters with Montgomery were brief but pleasant.
In a statement, she added, “The only time we saw each other was at 6:00 in the morning in the makeup department.”
“We were not very chatty at that hour. It was hello, goodbye, nice to see you — that kind of thing. She was always pleasant.”
Although Montgomery, who died in 1995 at age 62, never publicly addressed the feud rumors, Eden has spoken out several times over the years.
In a 2013 television special, she distinguished that if any rivalry existed, “it was the producers’ invention.”
She also revealed that she and Montgomery had more in common than people realized — both actresses were pregnant around the same time in the mid-1960s and welcomed children within months of each other.
Eden dashed down all rumours by summing it all up in one sentence “that the so-called rivalry was nothing more than Hollywood gossip.”
Eden’s NBC sitcom earned her two Golden Globe nominations during its five-season run alongside co-stars Larry Hagman, Bill Daily, and Hayden Rorke.
Meanwhile, Montgomery led ABC’s Bewitched from 1964 to 1972, a role that garnered her five Primetime Emmy nominations and four Golden Globe nods.
