Brett Butler, born Brett Anderson, has lived a life marked by dramatic highs and devastating lows. Raised in Montgomery, Alabama, she was the eldest of six children. Her father, Roland Decatur Anderson Jr., worked as an oil executive but battled alcoholism and was violent. Her mother, Carol Butler, eventually fled with the children, plunging the family into poverty — a situation worsened by her mother’s fragile mental health.
Despite the chaos, Brett briefly attended the University of Georgia before dropping out to pursue stand-up comedy. Before she gained fame, she supported herself by waiting tables. Her big break came in 1987, when she appeared on The Tonight Show and was quickly noticed. That same year, she was hired as a writer on Dolly Parton’s variety show, Dolly. As Roseanne Barr’s fame grew nationally, Brett’s career trajectory followed a similar rise.
Everything changed in 1993 when ABC cast her as the lead in the sitcom Grace Under Fire. The show became an instant hit, making Brett a household name and earning her two Golden Globe nominations. Her character was loosely inspired by her own life — except Brett had no children. She had married a violent man at 20 and divorced him three years later, and she was also battling alcoholism. But at the height of her success, she became addicted to prescription drugs, a struggle that eventually drove several co-stars off the set.
Her unpredictable behavior forced ABC to cancel the series, effectively ending her career for years. By 2021, the financial consequences caught up with her, and she reluctantly agreed to start a GoFundMe campaign.
For years, Brett lived out of the public eye. Her social media had gone silent — Instagram since 2020, Twitter and Facebook since 2018 — and fans assumed she had vanished. When she fell six months behind on rent for her $2,500-a-month Los Angeles apartment, she confided in her friend Lon Strickler, who helped her create the GoFundMe. Brett admitted she felt “embarrassed almost to the point of death.”
She openly acknowledged that drugs had destroyed her career, saying the show should’ve been canceled sooner. After leaving Hollywood, she moved to a farm in Georgia, but lost that property too after failing to keep up with mortgage payments. While rumors once claimed she was homeless, Brett insisted that story was fabricated for TV ratings.
Though she earned $250,000 per episode — about $25 million total — the money disappeared due to theft, bad investments, and her own mismanagement. She admitted she felt guilty for having money and “almost couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.”
Brett appeared in 112 episodes of Grace Under Fire but remembers only about 80, and has never rewatched the show. She completed rehab in 1998, made amends, and became deeply devoted to rescuing animals. Over the years, she picked up smaller roles in How to Get Away with Murder (2016), The Morning Show (2019), and Fantasy Island (2023), with another film — Beach Cougar Gigolo — on the way.
She credits Charlie Sheen with saving her in 2012 by securing her a role on his sitcom Anger Management. “I wouldn’t have been on that show without Charlie,” she said. “It literally saved me.”
Thanks to friends like Strickler, her GoFundMe surpassed its $15,000 goal and raised over $50,000. Today, Brett is working on new comedy material, offering psychic readings, and has even considered writing another book.
These steps forward are especially meaningful after a battle with depression that began in 2019. She described it as “a monster that crept into my home,” worsening during the pandemic as she hid behind isolation and fear.
But now, she says, it’s time to step back into the light.
