Hollywood often feels overflowing with romance, yet it’s well known that many showbiz relationships don’t last. Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case for Barbara Eden. The woman who made the world fall in love with genies is turning 95 on August 23 — and the nonagenarian looks incredible.
Eden — who turned fans into eager bottle‑shiners hoping for their own wish‑granting blonde — remains adored 60 years after she first appeared on I Dream of Jeannie.
But while she could strike a pose and create magic on screen, she was unable to save her son, who died of a heroin overdose in 2001.
Born during the Great Depression, Barbara Eden, now 94, transformed poverty into success when she began appearing in films (A Private’s Affair, Twelve Hours to Kill) and TV shows (The Johnny Carson Show, I Love Lucy) in 1956.
In 1960, she reached international audiences when she starred alongside Elvis Presley in the western Flaming Star.
Then, in 1965, the stunning blonde became Jeannie — the beautiful genie freed by astronaut and U.S. Air Force Captain Tony Nelson.
Eden captured the hearts of viewers with her unforgettable portrayal of the magical character throughout the five‑season run of I Dream of Jeannie, with Larry Hagman playing her love interest, Nelson.
That same year, while reaching superstardom as Jeannie, Eden and her husband, actor Michael Ansara (best known for his role in the 1960s series Broken Arrow), welcomed their son, Matthew Ansara, born August 29, 1965.
When Matthew was nine, his parents ended their 15‑year marriage — a blow that Eden, who later married twice more, believes sent her son down the wrong path toward drugs.
The Harper Valley PTA star said she first realized Matthew was struggling in 1984, when at 19 he moved in with his father after she remarried. When he returned after her second divorce, she noticed he slept excessively and lied about being enrolled in college.
“Matthew never told Mike and me that he was using heroin — he didn’t want to hurt us. But we figured it out because he had been acting sluggish, losing weight, staying out all night. I insisted he enter a rehab center, and I let him come back home when he came out a month later.”
The Stepford Children actress continued, “But he started using again. The professionals told us that if your child is using drugs, he has become the drug: He is no longer your child, and he no longer has a home with you. So I locked him out when he was 20, which was the hardest thing I ever had to do.”
Matthew, who began using drugs at only 10 years old, spent the next 12 years cycling in and out of rehab, with his parents reconnecting to support him.
“When he visited us, sometimes he’d laugh and say, ‘Here I am, better lock up everything.’ But when he was sober, he’d tell us, ‘I’m so sorry. I love you more than anyone in the world,’” Eden said of her son, who often stole from them during visits.
During a brief period of sobriety at 27, Matthew married and studied creative writing at UCLA, but “the cycle began again,” and his wife left.
Recalling when things worsened, Eden said she confronted him, and “he got angry, threw things, and stomped out.” After months of searching, she learned he had spent most of that time living on the streets.
“One day, soon after they separated, he called me, sounding half dead, and said, ‘Mom, I’m sick.’ Mike’s wife and another friend drove with me to a bad part of Venice, Calif., and we found him in his apartment, unconscious from an overdose.”
Describing the conditions as “filthy,” Eden added, “He weighed 200 lbs., but we three women got him up and to the car and took him to the hospital, which saved his life.”
At 29, he was diagnosed with clinical depression and prescribed medication that didn’t help.
At 31, Matthew was sober again and following in his parents’ footsteps. He had a starring role in the 2001 film To Protect and Serve and a supporting role in Con Games, released posthumously that same year.
In September of that year, he planned to marry a “wonderful girl.”
“One day he told me, ‘Life is great, Mom. I can’t believe I spent so many years not being awake to how green the trees are,’” Eden recalled.
Barbara Eden’s Son: Cause of Death
Soon after that conversation, at 3 a.m. on June 26, Eden was jolted awake by a phone call about her son.
Six hours earlier, police had found 35‑year‑old Matthew — an amateur bodybuilder — slumped over the steering wheel of his truck. Officers also found vials of anabolic steroids he used for competitions.
Autopsy results revealed that Matthew died from an accidental drug overdose.
“Then he was dead. He had shot up with a dose of unusually pure heroin, and it was too much for his heart,” Eden said. “Even when he was getting in shape, he did it like an addict — obsessively. He was unable to do anything in moderation.”
Mourning the loss of her only child, Eden — an author and singer married to Jon Eicholtz since 1991 — is still searching for answers.
“Matthew took it horribly. He wanted his mommy and daddy to stay together. If I had to do it over, I would have waited until he was older. But then I remind myself that so many kids from divorced homes don’t become addicts.” She added, “He won a lot of battles. But he lost his personal war.”
Michael Ansara, who died in 2013 at age 91 from complications related to Alzheimer’s, is buried beside his son at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
As for Eden, who long ago retired Jeannie’s pink harem costume, she continues to appear on TV shows like Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition and in films such as the 2019 holiday movie My Adventures with Santa, where she played Mrs. Claus. Her last stage production was 2019’s Love Letters.
First, we’d like to wish the beautiful Barbara Eden a very happy birthday.
We also cannot imagine the pain of losing a child, and we are deeply sorry for her loss. If someone you know is struggling with addiction, please reach out to your local alcohol or drug abuse hotline — it could save a life.
Please share this story and send Barbara Eden the warm wishes and love she deserves.
