Washington [US], April 22 : Delta Burke, who is known for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the sitcom 'Designing Women', talked about the popular show and her 1998 memoir, 'Delta Style: Eve Wasn't a Size 6 and Neither Am I', reported People.
The 67-year-old actor recently appeared on the Glamorous Trash podcast with Chelsea Devantez and recalled her journey on the sitcom.
She left the show in 1991, reportedly because of the profile disagreement with its makers, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, whom she claimed had psychologically abused her, along with Bloodworth-Thomason's husband, Harry Thomason.
"It got ugly and very sad," she told Devantez of how the dream TV role went downhill with time.
"We do Designing Women, and I'm so happy to be there. I love everything. But then things started to change, which I won't go into. But that, combined with becoming famous, that I simply couldn't cope with," Burke continued of the show, in which she starred alongside Annie Potts, Jean Smart and the late Dixie Carter. "And I wanted to leave. And I wasn't allowed to leave."
However, she shared that she "loved" how her character, Suzanne Sugarbaker, "evolved" on the show throughout five seasons. She shared, "an amazing character to get to play, grow older and fatter with," which is something that she said she loves despite the difficulties.
Speaking to her relationship with Bloodworth-Thomason, whom she'd worked with before the sitcom on 'Filthy Rich' and went on to work with again on 'Women of the House', Burke said it's a "love-hate" dynamic.
"I love her very much, I admire a lot that she's done, I'm very thankful for everything that she's done for me, but there are other issues. Well, we tried to kill each other, but you know, we survived."
She also spoke about the scrutiny she faced over her weight -- which also contributed to her exit from the show.
She admitted she was "emotionally too fragile" to deal with how "incredibly ugly" the narratives about her weight became, recalling people constantly questioning whether she was pregnant and one particularly alarming time when a fan "jerked" her coat open and said, "Let's see, how fat are ya?"
"I thought I was stronger. I tried very hard to defend myself against lies and all the ugliness that was there and I wasn't gonna win. I'm just an actress, you know. I don't have any power," she said on the podcast. "I remember on the set when it got to be bad, and I wasn't handling it well with a smiling face, my whole body language changed. I would kind of hunch over... I just tried to disappear."
She continued, "Hollywood will mess your head up. And I had always thought, 'I want to be a famous actress.' I thought that meant that you would be a famous and well-respected actress, but that's not what it meant. And the moment I became famous, it was like, 'Oh no, no, no. This is not what I had in mind at all. I don't think I want to be this anymore.' But then it's too late."
Burke, who was nominated for two Emmy Awards for the role, also shared that she was hospitalized following Designing Women's second season in 1986. "I did have a breakdown," she recalled, as "it had become too much. I really couldn't handle it and didn't wanna go back."
Burke credited her 34-year marriage to Gerald McRaney, whom she met while filming Designing Women, for getting her through the most challenging periods.
"I love my life truly for the first time. And I love him desperately," she said of McRaney. "I know that I'm safe and I'm loved. I didn't feel that there. I wanted to be so much, and I didn't get to be what I wanted to be, but I got to go there, and I got to be an actress, and I got to make people laugh, which I loved very much," reported People.