‘I Love Lucy’: Lucie Arnaz’s Favorite Memory of Her Mother, Lucille Ball, Is a Little Sad

Being Lucille Ball’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz grew up surrounded by show business. When she was younger, she was even taught by a tutor on set as opposed to attending a regular school. Arnaz, of course, also famously appeared in some of the shows that made her mother so famous. Unsurprisingly, she grew up to be an actress, singer, and producer. It’s in her blood, after all.

When reflecting back on her favorite memories with her mother, Arnaz longs for the simpler times.

Lucie Arnaz’s favorite memories with her mother, Lucille Ball

In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Arnaz recalled, growing up, many people telling her they’d kill to have a mother like Ball to create “magical memories” with. But Arnaz says her childhood wasn’t really like that.

“Really? Would you?” she’d respond. “Because she’s a pretty busy lady.”

While Arnaz spent plenty of time with her mother on set, her favorite memories were when they were together at home.

“I sort of always come back to the idea that any memory where she’s just home and has time to just be with us, any of those simple, the simplest of dumbest of memories, you know, making a grilled cheese sandwich in the kitchen,” she said.

Lucie Arnaz says Lucille Ball ‘did not have a great business mind’

Despite Ball’s life revolving around show business, Arnaz says her mother didn’t ever really take to the business side of things.

“My mother did not have a great business mind, didn’t want one, was not interested in that end of it at all,” she said.” She wanted to play in the sandbox, period. She wanted to go to work and play those characters and have fun and do shows.”

Desi Arnaz, however, was “a great business mind,” according to his daughter.

“He ran the studio and [Lucille Ball] was never happier than when she could rely on that,” said Arnaz.

But what Ball lacked in business sense, she made up for in instincts.

“What she was good at was instincts,” said Arnaz. “She had great instincts. So once in a while she made a couple of calls that were pretty brilliant, like, ‘No, don’t cancel Star Trek. No, I think Mission: Impossible is fun, let’s leave it on.’ You know? Those were smart calls, but it wasn’t what I would call business sense, and she did not enjoy that at all.”

What Lucie Arnaz thinks ‘I Love Lucy’ is really about

When Arnaz reflects on her mother and her legacy, she thinks of I Love Lucy and what it stood for.

“The older I get, I think it’s unconditional love. Teaching people about unconditional love,” she says. “I think that show, with everything else that it was: hilariously funny, brilliantly written, timeless — you could put a kid in front of it today, the same way you could five generations ago, and they would laugh and they wouldn’t be insulted — but, I think, when push comes to shove, that show was about forgiveness and love. It could have been called I Love Lucy Anyway.”