"I've got all my parts — got my hips, I got my knees and I've got my brain, so I'm happy about that," Burnett said.
Carol Burnett has been entertaining audiences for many years and has amassed several awards along the way, including six Emmys, six Golden Globes, one Grammy, and a Kennedy Center Honor. She will turn 90 on April 26 and therefore hit a new milestone. On Burnett's birthday, NBC will celebrate with a two-hour special including special guests— Amy Poehler, Cher, Ellen DeGeneres, Julie Andrews, and Steve Carell. Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter, Jane Lynch, Katy Perry, and Kristin Chenoweth will also appear at Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Comedy + Love. The singing sensation told PEOPLE how excited she is about it.
"I can't wrap my head around it. I still feel like I'm about 11, but I'm amazed. It sure went fast. But I'm glad because I've got all my parts — got my hips, I got my knees and I've got my brain, so I'm happy about that," Burnett told the outlet as she shared how she felt about aging and her grand birthday plans. "I used to pretend to be on a radio show. I would yell out the window, 'Now ladies and gentlemen, we have a young girl who is going to sing here without any musical accompaniment',” she said.
“One time, a man next door said, 'Will you turn that goddamn thing off?' And I thought, 'I'm a hit. They think it's real'," she added recalling the times she wanted to be a singer. The star of The Carol Burnett Show revealed that it wasn't until she was in college that she realized she had a gift for humor. Due to the fact that "so many performers who started when they were 3 and 4 and 5 years old," according to Burnett, she is a "late bloomer."
"I was pretty much of a quiet student all through grammar school, junior high, and Hollywood High. I would kid around with my friends, the neighborhood kids, and stuff like that. But I never really thought about it until I got to UCLA and I was in an acting class. A lot of the kids in the class were doing heavy, dramatic stuff and I thought, I can't do that. So I picked something light and they laughed. That's when the bug bit," revealed the musician as she disclosed the times when she was a quiet student until she joined acting classes and loved her funny self.
"It was some local television show in New York and I got up and I belted out a song and the emcee that I was auditioning for said, 'You're too loud for television,'" Burnett recalled, "I disagreed." Eventually, she achieved renown on a global scale, but not without some challenges.
The veteran actress has starred as Miss Hannigan in the 1982 films Annie, All My Children, Fresno, Mad About You, and most recently, Better Call Saul. She also hosted The Carol Burnett Show for 11 seasons and Carol & Company for another two. She is still employed and her forthcoming appearance will be in the Apple TV+ series Palm Royale.
Reference:
https://people.com/tv/carol-burnett-on-turning-90-i-still-feel-like-im-about-11/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Kevin Winter
