‘All in the Family’: Sally Struthers Reveals Truth About Rob Reiner Relationship
What To Know
- Sally Struthers revealed that while she and Rob Reiner had a close working relationship on All in the Family, their friendship faded after the show ended.
- Struthers shared that Reiner would often call her just to tell a joke, but these calls eventually stopped without explanation.
- She speculated that both Reiner’s first wife, Penny Marshall, and later his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, may have felt uneasy about their friendship.
All in the Family star Sally Struthers revealed the truth about her relationship with Rob Reiner just months before his death.
In April 2025, the actress, 78, opened up about her friendship with Reiner—who was found dead alongside his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in their Los Angeles home on Sunday, December 14—after All in the Family ended. She told Celebrity Drop that Reiner would edit the scripts during table reads to account for live studio audience laughter.
“Rob Reiner was light-years ahead of everyone with what to do,” she declared. “He would say, ‘All right, everybody, go to page two. You see Edith [Jean Stapleton] and Archie’s [Carroll O’Connor] lines at the bottom of that page. You can cut it. You won’t miss them. It doesn’t ruin a joke.'”
Reiner and Struthers played a married couple, Michael “Meathead” Stivic and Gloria Meathead, on the sitcom for eight seasons. When Struthers was asked if she and Reiner were “very close” after they left the show, she replied, “I thought we were.”
During the interview, Struthers explained, “He would call me every once in a while, and he wouldn’t say hello. He would just start a joke, and then he’d say it, and then he’d hang up.”
For several years, the calls continued — until they didn’t. “I didn’t understand why it stopped,” she admitted. When she saw Reiner at the premiere of The Producers in 2003, they had an awkward encounter.
“I went running toward him, screaming, ‘Robby!’ And he put his hand out ahead of me, really stiffly like the Tin Man, shook my hand, keeping me as far away from him as possible,” she recounted. “He, speaking robotically, said, ‘Hello, Sally. Nice to see you, Sally.’ And I was horrified.”
Struthers speculated that Reiner might have wanted his wife, Michele, to feel at ease about their friendship being nothing more than that.
“But after that, I felt if I ever was walking down the street and saw him walking toward me, I would duck in an alley,” the actress confessed. “I didn’t want to ever have that thing happen again.”
Everett Collection
Additionally, Struthers told Celebrity Drop that Reiner’s first wife, actress Penny Marshall, was mistrustful of their relationship.
She detailed, “He did tell me one day at CBS, ‘Penny’s coming to the taping tonight.’ I said, ‘Why are you telling me that. She comes every week for the taping.’ He said, ‘Because I don’t want you to say hi to her.’ ‘Why?’ He says, ‘She thinks you and I are having an affair.’ And I said, ‘You’re kidding.'”
Reiner, 78, and Michele, 68, were found dead on December 14; their son, Nick Reiner, is in police custody as a suspect in their deaths.
In addition to his role in All in the Family, Reiner is best known for directing films like A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Stand by Me, and others.
All in the Family, streaming on Pluto TV and Tubi
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