LUCILLE Ball’s reclusive son Desi Arnaz Jr. is unrecognizable in a rare photograph shared by his older sister Lucie Arnaz.
On Saturday, Lucie, 73, gave fans an update on “my recalcitrant brother” Desi, 71, adding that he is “alive and well” but prefers to “stay a little ‘undercover,’” in an Instagram post.
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The eldest child of I Love Lucy stars Lucille and Desi Arnaz included two new photos with Desi Jr., who has remained out of the spotlight since the death of his wife Amy Arnaz in 2015.
In one photo, Lucie can be seen resting her head on her brother’s shoulder, with her hands wrapped around his arm. In another, they are looking at the camera.
The photos were taken at a family gathering as Lucie thanked her husband Laurence Luckinbill’s son Nick for treating them to a “great meal at Wally’s” in Las Vegas, Nevada.
She captioned her post: “With our special guest, my recalcitrant brother, Desi Arnaz Jr.!!! Desi is alive and well, my friends – he just likes to stay a little ‘undercover’.”
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In another photo, Lucie can be seen posing with British singer-songwriter and Las Vegas artist Clint Holmes and his wife Kelly.
Lucille and Desi met in 1940, while filming the musical comedy Too Many Girls, when they hit it off immediately.
They married six months later when Lucille and Desi eloped on November 30, 1940.
The comedic duo, who rose to fame with I Love Lucy, welcomed their first daughter, Lucie, on July 17, 1951.
Desi was born 18 months later, on the same day Lucille’s character gave birth to little Ricky in I Love Lucy.
He later clarified that his mother, whose pregnancy was included in the show, did not give birth to him on air in a 1991 interview with the show. Los Angeles Times.
“I was actually born that Monday morning and the episode aired that night,” he said. “A lot of people thought I was born in the air.”
Fans also mistakenly believed that Desi played the character of Little Ricky on the show after he appeared on the cover of the first issue of TV Guide as a child with his mother.
“Because that cover was so widely seen, everyone thought I was playing Little Ricky, and that stuck with me my whole life,” he told TV Guide in an interview celebrating his 60th birthday in 2013.
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Desi Jr. began his music career at age 11 when he joined the rock and roll group Dino, Desi and Billy, along with Dean Martin’s son Dean Paul Martin and Bill Hinsche.
Desi Jr. played drums and the group opened for bands like The Beach Boys, People reported.
He has earned acting credits on shows The Brady Bunch and Here’s Lucy, playing Craig Carter alongside his mother and sister from 1968 to 1972.
Desi Jr.’s turn on the 1971 Red Sky at Morning program earned him a Golden Globe.
His parents divorced in 1960 after 20 years of marriage.
In an interview with People In 2022, Lucie told how her brother helped her father get sober a year before Desi died in 1986.
The American actress said that although Desi “resisted joining AA” for many years, “he finally did so after his wife Edy died.”
“He was so upset that my brother convinced him that I thought, ‘Come on, Dad. Can you do that’. And he did it. He stopped drinking.
“I was right next to him when he stood up and said, ‘My name is Desi and I’m an alcoholic.’ It was the proudest moment of my life to sit next to him and hear him do that,” she continued.
“It was like, ‘Okay, I don’t care what you do after this. That was the best thing you ever did.’ Because this was difficult for him, it is difficult for everyone, but especially for him it was very difficult,” Lucie shared.
Their relationship was explored in the 2021 Amazon Prime film Being The Ricardos, starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as the stars of the hit American comedy.
The following year, a documentary titled Lucy and Desi was released, with the couple’s two children participating in the film directed by Amy Poehler.
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