Tim Conway spent years making millions of fans laugh on “The Carol Burnett Show,” but there was nothing remotely funny happening in the final years of his life. Sadly, Tim Conway’s daughter Kelly and her stepmom, Charlene, were at odds and the end result is nothing short of tragic.
Tim Conway’s Daughter Suffered Through Bitter War With Stepmom
In her upcoming memoir “My Dad’s Funnier Than Your Dad: Growing up with Tim Conway in the Funniest House in America,” Conway’s daughter Kelly is opening up about the brutal war over her father’s care between her and her stepmom Charlene that took place in the years before he passed away in 2019 at the age of 85.
Things got so bad that Charlene didn’t even notify Kelly to tell her that her dad had passed away.
Kelly fought Charlene in court over Conway’s conservatorship and access to doctors and caregivers, but the judge ultimately ruled in the stepmother’s favor, implementing mediation to allow Kelly visitation.
“The battle with my stepmom was tragic because it could have been a lot different,” Kelly told Page Six. “It could have been a lot more calm.”
Kelly went on to say that before her father began to get ill, she had a great relationship with Charlene, who married Conway back in 1984.
“I loved her because she loved my dad so much,” said Kelly, who is one of Conway’s five children. “And he loved her. And they were so happy. I was so content in the fact that they were happy all the time.”
Related: Tim Conway Can’t Keep It Together As Carol Burnett Lists Medication Side Effects
Kelly’s Relationship With Stepmom Goes Downhill When Tim Conway Gets Sick
However, things started to go downhill when Tim Conway got sick, with Kelly saying that Charlene began to have issues with things as small as the food she would bring her dad when she visited.
“I used to go visit them and bring my dad a sandwich, and she would throw it in the trash because she wanted to make him her food,” Kelly claimed. “It sounds very petty, but I feel like that’s where it started. And it escalated from there.
“She decided that after 30 years of a great relationship I had with her, she decided to go opposite and keep me from him and not let me be involved with his health care or talk to doctors or nurses or caregivers,” she continued. “And I still don’t have the answer to why she did. I have no idea, although it doesn’t matter anymore. I mean, I would take the answer if someone gave it to me, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Because like I said, it could have been so different. And I don’t know. I still don’t know why.”
Tim Conway would eventually be diagnosed with dementia the year before he passed away.
Kelly said that she hasn’t spoken to her stepmother since her father’s funeral, which she wasn’t even sure that she and her siblings would be invited to.
She added that after the service, the Conway kids threw a reception “at a pizza place that my dad loved, not far from where we grew up. So, it was actually better.”
Related: Carol Burnett And Lucille Ball Fight Over Tim Conway In This Hilarious Skit
Kelly’s Goal
Kelly also said that her legal battle with her stepmother was not about getting her hands on her father’s money at all.
Instead, she simply said that her goal was to have her father at home in familiar surroundings, “not have a new doctor every 20 minutes and new caregivers and unfamiliar rooms.”
“I just wanted to take the suffering and keep that to a minimum,” she said. “And I thought by being at home that would have at least taken some of the complications and heartbreak out of it. But it just never happened, and I don’t know why. I really don’t.”
It’s heartbreaking to learn that a funnyman like Tim Conway had an ending that was so very sad on so many levels.
So let’s not end on such a sour note. Tim Conway brought joy to the masses so let’s see if one his more popular sketches – ‘The Dentist’ – leaves you with a smile.
Read This Next
