The still-stunning Barbara Eden<\/strong> just turned 91<\/a>, and she\u2019s unbottling a treasure trove of shocking secrets about her 70 years in showbiz \u2014 including big names like Elvis Presley<\/a>, Desi Arnaz<\/strong>, Tom Jones<\/strong>, John F. Kennedy<\/a> and of course, Larry Hagman<\/a>, her costar in I Dream of Jeannie<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019ve had a wonderful life,\u201d Eden often said. \u201cI\u2019ve been very, very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the course of her career, Eden has crossed paths with many showbiz greats \u2014 and lots of them wanted to get her alone! In her 2011 book,Jeannie Out of the Bottle<\/em>, she recalled her first brush with Elvis during the \u201950s. \u201cWhile staying at the Hollywood Studio Club, which provided a home for women in show business, I took a dancing job at Ciro\u2019s nightclub on Sunset Boulevard,\u201d she wrote. \u201cOne night, Elvis Presley called the owner and asked for a date. I assumed the owner was kidding and didn\u2019t think about it again until 1960, when I worked with him on the film Flaming Star<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n But the King didn\u2019t hold a grudge over the rejection. During the Flaming Star <\/em>filming, Elvis was a dreamy 25 years old and seven years from marrying<\/a> Priscilla<\/a> \u2014 and although other women found him irresistible, Eden insisted he keep his hands to himself. Two years before, she had wed first husband Michael Ansara<\/strong>. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a romance with Elvis like most of his leading ladies did,\u201d she revealed last year. \u201cHe was a gentleman. I\u2019d walk onto the set, he\u2019d get me a chair immediately. I enjoyed talking to him, and we spent a lot of time together between takes. He was a natural.\u201d<\/p>\n Ditching Elvis was child\u2019s play for Eden, who\u2019d already said \u201cno\u201d to philandering John F. Kennedy! \u201cIn 1957 I was at the airport in New York, and while buying some candy, a heavyset man asked if I\u2019d like to meet Senator John Kennedy,\u201d she wrote. When they met, \u201cit was just hello and goodbye, but as I was boarding the plane, I put my hand in my coat pocket and there was a note that said, \u2018Call me,\u2019 and a phone number. I [threw away] the piece of paper, but I wish I still had it!\u201d The same year, Eden did an appearance on I Love Lucy<\/em>. Although she learned a great deal from working with<\/a> Lucille Ball<\/a>, saying, \u201cShe was so very generous \u2014 it was amazing,\u201d she stayed clear of her skirt-chasing hubby Desi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It was only Eden\u2019s third acting job, and the last thing she needed was the great Ball putting her on a black list! \u201cI was really worried,\u201d said Eden. \u201cAnd I knew Desi was a playboy, so I knew to be careful there.\u201d Another legendary serial cheater,Tom Jones<\/strong>, also wanted to put Eden on his list of conquests!<\/p>\n In 1970, she made a special guest appearance on the singer\u2019s variety show This Is Tom Jones<\/em>. \u201cWe sang a duet, and he leaned over and said, \u2018Can I show you London, Barbara?\u2019 and then I realized he didn\u2019t mean to show me London,\u201d she said in a TV interview. \u201cAt four in the morning, the phone rang and it was Tom and he said, \u2018Can I show you London?\u2019 I said no, and the next morning, he told me, \u2018I was in the lobby and I was going to knock on your door.\u2019 I said, \u2018Tom, I\u2019m married,\u2019 and he said, \u2018That\u2019s all right, I am too!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In 1965, Eden got the role of a lifetime on I Dream of Jeannie<\/em><\/a> and for the next five years, she costarred with Hagman, who played her \u201cmaster\u201d and eventually her husband, Major Anthony Nelson. The day she got the job, she also discovered she was pregnant. When she told producer Sidney Sheldon<\/strong>, she expected to be fired, but he was so sure she was perfect for the part he said they would work around it \u2014 and shot 13 episodes right off the bat before her pregnancy showed.<\/p>\n After that, they draped her in clothing or hid her behind furniture. During the show\u2019s run, Eden put up with an unending series of dramas involving Hagman, who thought the scripts were awful, and he hated playing second banana to Eden\u2019s kooky character Jeannie. He took his rage out on the crew with frequent nasty outbursts and would throw scripts to the floor and urinate on them! \u201cI liked and respected Larry as an actor,\u201d Eden shared. \u201cBut his shifting moods and off-camera theatrics grew wearying.\u201d<\/p>\n He had temper tantrums, drank, did drugs and ran around with women during the run of the show, making Eden\u2019s life a living hell at times. \u201cLarry found himself in a show with a beautiful, half- naked girl, and there was no way that it would be his show,\u201d explained producer Sheldon. \u201cSidney arranged for Larry to see a therapist, and reluctantly or not, Larry went along with the idea,\u201d Eden explained. \u201cHowever, in keeping with the anything-goes ethos of the early \u201960s, the therapist ostensibly advised Larry to smoke pot and drink champagne on the set, to help himself relax.\u201d<\/p>\n Hagman followed the therapist\u2019s advice \u2014 but to a drastic degree. \u201cLarry, being Larry, naturally didn\u2019t do anything by half measures<\/a>,\u201d Eden wrote. \u201cHenceforth, instead of being nervous, on edge and confrontational, he started every day at the studio by drinking vast quantities of champagne.\u201d In her book The Eternal Party: Understanding My Dad, Larry Hagman, the TV Star America Loved to Hate<\/em>, his daughter, Kristina<\/strong>, wrote, \u201cHe so completely embraced the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll ethos of [the \u201960s] that he lived it to the end of his days \u2026 The blissful marriage my folks always presented to the public had a sad, hidden side.\u201d<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for the <\/strong><\/em>OK!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It\u2019s gossip too good to wait for!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The double life included marijuana, LSD, booze and sleazy young mistresses, says Kristina. But good-natured Eden was able to cope with the storms, and despite Hagman\u2019s shenanigans, she remained lifelong friends with her difficult costar until he died from cancer in 2012<\/a> at 81.<\/p>\n When the series was canceled in 1970, she said, \u201cI felt just as if I had lost my family, albeit one with a wild, delinquent terror of a brother!\u201d Eden\u2019s off-screen life wasn\u2019t always happy, though. She and actor Ansara<\/strong> divorced in 1974 after she had a stillbirth and sunk into a deep de- pression. Their son, Matthew<\/strong>, died from an accidental heroin overdose at 35. \u201cI still think about him every day,\u201d she said. She wed present husband Jon Eicholtz<\/strong> in 1991, and after more than 30 years, the twosome are still blissful.<\/p>\n Eden says they travel a lot and keep a low-key lifestyle, although she\u2019ll never fully retire! \u201cI\u2019m really lucky,\u201d she said. \u201cI have dear friends. I have a wonderful family and a very supportive husband.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/socialitelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/78963-origin_1-2.jpg\"\/)
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