Meet 60s star Carol Burnett’s three children – who all followed her into showbiz

Carol and Joe’s eldest daughter, Carrie, was born on 5 December 1963 in New York City, while her mum was starring on Broadway. It was not until 1967 that she was given her TV show. 

Carrie had a troubled life, using drugs and drinking heavily as a teenager, and finding herself inside a rehab programme three times before she finally got sober. 

She had a strained relationship with her mother during her addiction, but the pair eventually reconciled and became inseparable. 

Carrie followed in her mom’s footsteps and entered the world of acting and singing, disciplines she studied at Pepperdine University. 

She appeared in TV shows such as Fame and movies like Tokyo Pop. She also sang with a band called Big Business and was married to musician Mark Templin from 1994 to 1998.

The star reflected on her teenage struggles and told People in 1979: “I was always Carol Burnett’s daughter. When I got high, I wasn’t anymore. I wanted my own image.”

Carrie was sadly diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2001 and died of cancer-related pneumonia on 20 January 2002, when she was just 38 years old.

Now 59 years old, Jody is the star’s second child and was born on 18 January 1967 in Los Angeles, the same year Carol’s career really took off. 

Her childhood was unique as she was sent to live in Hawaii with her sister Erin during the 1980s so she would be shielded from her parents’ divorce. 

Taking after her father, Jody became a film and TV producer as an adult and founded an independent film company called Namethkuf with her mom and other artists in 1988. 

She co-hosted a politics and pop culture podcast, From The Bunker, from 2014 to 2023, and she lives in LA with her husband, musician and songwriter Lonny Paul Johnson. 

Carrie and Joe welcomed Erin on 14 August 1968 in LA. The youngest of the star’s girls, Erin’s younger years were colourful after she dropped out of Bennington College in Vermont to follow the Grateful Dead on their US tour they tour. 

Following that, she became a professional singer and performed with jazz and blues bands before stepping out on her own as a dance music artist. 

She has opened for artists like Bette Midler and Whitney Houston and released an album called One World in 1999. 

Years earlier, in 1995, she married musician Trae Carlson and welcomed one son, Zachary, before they divorced in 1998. After that relationship ended, she married Tony West, with whom she shares son Dylan.

Like her oldest sister, Erin has struggled with addiction, and in August 2020, her mother and stepfather petitioned for legal guardianship of Dylan due to “addiction issues and other circumstances” per the court filing seen by People. 

The famous couple were granted temporary guardianship of Dylan in September 2020, and two years later, a permanent guardian was named.