Ann Jillian was one of Hollywood’s biggest sex symbols in the 1980s, but when motherhood came along, she made a choice that changed the course of her career—and she says she has never regretted it.
The 76-year-old actress, best known for playing sultry waitress Cassie Cranston on the sitcom It’s a Living, welcomed her only son at age 42 and decided that raising him had to come before fame.
“I gave birth to my one and only son when I was 42, and I took that seriously,” Jillian said.
Although she admires women who are able to balance motherhood with a demanding Hollywood career, Jillian realized she was not one of them.
“I recognize that I cannot,” she explained. “Something is going to suffer.”
Jillian began acting as a child, playing Little Bo Peep in the 1961 Disney musical Babes in Toyland. The following year, she appeared as Baby June in Gypsy alongside Natalie Wood and Rosalind Russell.
She later became a regular on the 1960s sitcom Hazel and spent years touring in musical comedies. Jillian also performed with Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller in the original Broadway company of Sugar Babies.
Her career reached new heights in the 1980s with It’s a Living, but her life took a frightening turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35.
Jillian chose to speak publicly about the diagnosis, and her experience was later dramatized in the 1988 television movie The Ann Jillian Story. She played herself in the film and won a Golden Globe for her performance.
After surviving cancer, Jillian entered another major chapter of her life when she and her husband, Andy Murcia, welcomed their son, Andrew, in 1992.
That was when she decided to step away from the Hollywood spotlight.
“I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a thousand miles away if he gets a boo-boo. I don’t want to be a thousand miles away when he wants to talk about something just terrible that happened at school or just wonderful that happened at school,’” Jillian recalled.
She also did not want work to keep her from the important milestones in her son’s life.
“I don’t want to be in front of a camera somewhere when it’s time for him to have his first communion,” she said.
For Jillian, the decision was clear.
“So, basically, I hung up my dancing shoes and said, ‘Nope, nope, this is the most important role I have to play right now, and that’s being a mom.’”
Looking back, Jillian acknowledged that she may not have done everything perfectly, but said the experience of raising her son was worth far more than any Hollywood role.
“I’m sure I made mistakes along the way, but I learned an awful lot too,” she said. “And I had the privilege of raising a young man who is now an international tax attorney. And I wouldn’t trade that for the world.”