Delta Burkewas once addicted to crystal meth as a way to lose weight.
It got ugly and very sad, said Burke.
She worked with Bloodworth-Thomason on the sitcomFilthy RichbeforeDesigning Women, and claimed she viewed her as a mentor.
Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Variety/REX/Shutterstock
We do Designing Women, and Im so happy to be there, she said.
But then things started to change, which I wont go into.
But that, combined with becoming famous, I simply couldnt cope with.
I dont know what would have happened to me if I had been allowed to leave.
Staying gave me an amazing character to get to play… and I loved it, how she evolved.
I had that even though it could be difficult sometimes.
Im very thankful for everything that shes done for me, but theres other issues, she said.
Basically we tried to kill each other, but you know, we survived.
Burke left at the end of season 5 in 1991.
She said that Bloodworth-Thomason pressured her to lose weight.
Meanwhile, the Thomasons blamed Burkes husband,Major Dadstar Gerald McRaney, for the falling-out.
She changed after she began dating him, they claimed.
Burke struggled with her weight throughout her TV career.
She began with pills, which she said she took every morning.
When her tolerance made them no longer effective, she went in search of something else.
Thats when crystal meth entered her world.
Nobody knew about crystal meth at the time, she said.
[They told me,] You chop it up.
I said, I dont want to snort it.
Your legs are too big.
And I now look back at those pictures and go, I was a freaking goddess.'
McRaneys presence eased the moments for her.
Whatever went down that was bad, it was worth because I met him.
No one had ever loved me completely for me, not even my mother or grandmother.
They would judge what I looked like.
Burke stepped away from Hollywod and kept a low profile.
It got too ugly.
And all of a sudden, one day, it was like the joy of acting left me.
It had been ruined by the ugliness that goes, unfortunately, with a lot of the business.
I just withdrew from the work because the joy was not there anymore.
