A court has granted All My Children alum Carol Burnett (ex-Verla Grubbs) temporary custody of her teenage grandson as the boy's mother struggles with substance abuse issues.
Comedy legend Carol Burnett (ex-Verla Grubbs, All My Children) is dealing with some family issues that aren't so funny. The 87-year-old and her husband, Brian Miller, have taken temporary custody of their 14-year-old grandchild, Dylan West, while his mother, Erin Hamilton, deals with addiction issues.
Burnett, who will oversee West's care until January 8, 2021, said in a statement that the move was for the boy's "health, education, and welfare and not intended to deny him nor the parents proper visitation with one another."
Hamilton, the youngest of Burnett's three daughters, is a singer who has scored many hits on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. In the court documents requesting legal guardianship of her grandson, Burnett explained that her daughter has "suffered from severe substance abuse and addiction issues" for much of her adult life and has been in and out of rehabilitation and institutionalized eight times in the past 19 years.
Burnett also said in the filing that her daughter sent multiple text messages on July 15 to West in which she threatened suicide. Dylan told his father, Tony West, who called the Los Angeles Police Department. They conducted a wellness check on Hamilton and placed her on a 51/50 hold for "suicidality and drug use."
According to the filing, Hamilton was taken to two hospitals for treatment and released on July 24. Meanwhile, Tony West checked himself into a rehab center in Los Angeles on August 7 and "is unable to provide financial support for Dylan."
Hamilton's rep has yet to respond to requests for comment.
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Carol Burnett had a long history with All My Children, starting in 1976, when the soap opera's creator, Agnes Nixon, cast her in the role of Verla Grubbs, the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds) who caused lots of trouble for her stepmother, Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). Burnett made occasional appearances on the soap opera in each decade thereafter and also hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995. She made a brief cameo appearance as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005, episode, which celebrated the show's 35th anniversary, and she reprised her role as Grubbs in September 2011 as part of the series' finale.
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