Hollywood legend regrets not taking legal action after ‘chaotic’ debacle with Lindsay Lohan-Josie Copson-Entertainment – Metro

Lindsay Lohan worked on the sitcom Bette as a teenager (Picture: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Bette Midler regrets not suing after Lindsay Lohan left a TV project.

The pair worked together on the 2000 sitcom Bette, which lasted for just one series before being axed.

In the eight episodes, Bette played a fictionalised version of herself, while Kevin Dunn played her husband Roy for 16 episodes before the character was taken over by Robert Hays, and Lindsay took on the role of her daughter Rose in the pilot.

The 78-year-old described the situation as ‘chaotic,’ and now wishes she’d have known her duties.

‘After the pilot, Lindsay Lohan decided she didn’t want to do it, or she had other fish to fry,’ Bette recalled.

‘So Lindsay Lohan left the building and I said, “Well, now what do you do?”

Lindsay played Bette’s daughter (Picture: CBS / Getty Images)

‘The studio didn’t help me. It was extremely chaotic. If I had been in my right mind, or if I had known that my part of my duties were to stand up and say, “This absolutely will not do, I’m going to sue”, then I would have done that.

‘But I seem to have been cosseted in some way that I couldn’t get to the writer’s room. I couldn’t speak to the showrunner. I couldn’t make myself clear. There were so many competing personalities.’

The Parent Trap actress was replaced by Marina Malota for the remaining 17 episodes. It was reported at the time that Lindsey left after it was decided the show would be shot in Los Angeles, rather than New York, where she resided with her family.

Lindsay was replaced by Marina (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)

Bette may have bad memories of the situation, but Lindsay, who has been enjoying a recent resurgence after taking a break from movies, recently spoke positively about working with Bette.

Just five days ago, Lindsay, 37, shared a photo with the star on Instagram and wrote: ‘Had such a blast filming with the incredible @bettemidler 💕 #tbt.’

It wasn’t just Lindsay’s departure that bothered Bette about the series. On David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast, she called her whole participation in the programme a ‘big mistake’.

She is a celebrated movie star with roles in Hocus Pocus and The First Wives Club and doesn’t feel that a situational comedy was the right career move for her.

James Dreyfus as Oscar, Joanna Gleason as Connie Randolph, Bette Midler as Bette, Lindsay Lohan as Rose and Kevin Dunn as Roy (Picture: Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images)

‘I didn’t realise what the pace was and I didn’t understand what the hierarchy was, and no one bothered to tell me,’ she explained.

Bette felt ‘kicked to the curb immediately.’ ‘I didn’t know that I could have taken charge,’ she said. This is despite her position of power on the CBS Network show – she was an executive producer on the series created by Jeffrey Lane.

Bette said she was ‘thrilled’ when it was cancelled.

Bette was happy when the show was cancelled (Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Much of the show was based around a fictional personal life in a luxurious Los Angeles home, and featured storylines with celebrity pals including Danny DeVito, Oprah Winfrey, Dolly Parton, and the late Dame Olivia Newton-John.

Its first episode in October 2000 attracted 15 million viewers but was cancelled in March 2021 after dropping to nine million. The final two episodes aired in foreign markets, but not on CBS.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Lindsay Lohan’s representatives for comment.

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