5 things you didn't know about Brett Butler

For nearly 30 years Brett Butler has been a stand-up comic, writer, and actress. She rose to national attention in the late 1980's. Then, in the 1990's she starred in the series “Grace under fire” where she played Grace Kelly; a divorced, working-class mother of three. The show did well for several years throughout the 1990's. Since the end of her series Ms. Butler has experienced years of ups and downs in her career before getting back on track.

There is much more to Ms. Butler then the stand-up and the laughs that her show gave us. The following are 5 little known facts that helped shape her career:

She had an abusive marriage

When Brett was 20 she married her first husband, Charlie Wilson. Just like her mothers first marriage it soon turned abusive. Unlike her thought Brett was determined to limit the time she had to suffer in the marriage. Within two years she was able to muster the courage to leave the marriage and head south to Huston. There she moved in with her mom and took a job as a waitress.

She wrote for Dolly Parton

One of Brett Butler's earliest appearances to the national spotlight was when she appeared on Dolly Parton's variety show. After that first appearance she became a skit writer for the duration of the show which turned out just be one season.

She fought drug addiction for years

In the mid 1990's Brett Butler started taking pain medication and that lead to harder drugs that she became addicted to. In the last couple of seasons of “Grace under fire” her off screen behavior was becoming very erratic. She would become demanding and abrasive to the crew and co-stars. By 1998 the show was cancel and Ms. Butler was on a downward spiral that saw her end up in a homeless shelter. She did eventually picked herself up and went into rehab again and in a few years wa ready to make a comeback.

Gravel throat tour

In 2003 a now clean and sober Brett Butler was ready to get back on the road. That year she set off on her gravel throat comedy tour and getting back to her roots as a stand-up performer. Since that time she has been doing stand-up and writing her way around the country.

She is report to be reprising McCloud

At the beginning of the year it was rumored that Brett Butler would be cast in the role of McCloud, the New Mexico sheriff temporally assigned to the New York P.D, that Dennis Weaver made famous in the 1970's. The new version of the show has not been officially announced.