“I was so jealous of you,” Bertinelli recently confessed to Mackenzie, also 66, on an episode of her podcast. “You had the perfect body. You were like this gorgeous, tall string bean, and all the clothes fit you perfectly, and my hips kept getting bigger and bigger.”
Bertinelli, who went on to star on several successful shows, including Hot in Cleveland and Touched by an Angel, and married the late rock god Eddie Van Halen, admitted the two teen stars often didn’t get along on the sitcom, which ran from 1975 to 1984.
“I hate that people compare themselves to others because I was one of them that did that,” she said, taking the blame for the tension between them.
The admission led Mackenzie to admit: “I was so jealous of you. Perfect skin, perfect hair.”
The TV sisters also agreed they were fortunate to have been mentored by Lear – but Bertinelli also confessed to being intimidated by the All in the Family creator’s power and was always “afraid of him” as she struggled to find her footing in Hollywood.