Brett Butler
Butler in 2015
Born	Brett Anderson (1958-01-30)January 30, 1958 (age 67) Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Georgia
Occupations	Actress writer comedian
Years active	1987–present
Spouses	Charles Michael Wilson ​ ​ (m. 1978; div. 1981)​ Ken Zieger ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 1999)​

Brett Butler (born January 30, 1958) is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian. Butler gained recognition as a stand-up comedian, performing in clubs across the United States and making appearances onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson andThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She is, however, best known for playing the title role in the ABC comedy seriesGrace Under Fire (1993–1998), for which she received twoGolden Globe Awards nominations.^[1][2] She has also had guest appearances on various series, includingMy Name Is Earl andAnger Management.

Butler was born Brett Anderson inMontgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five sisters.^[3] She was four years old when her father, Roland Decatur Anderson Jr., an oil company executive, moved the family toHouston, Texas. Her mother Carol left Roland, an abusive alcoholic, and moved with their children toMiami, Florida. Her mother battleddepression, and the family was sometimes so poor that they ateTootsie Rolls for dinner.^[4] Butler briefly attended theUniversity of Georgia.^[4] Before experiencing success as a stand-up comic, she worked as acocktail waitress.^[2][5]

In 1978, at the age of 20, Butler married her first husband, Charles Michael Wilson, three months after their meeting. Wilson was abusive and in 1981 she left him. Since then, he has both admitted and adamantly denied battering Butler, while claiming that she too was violent.^[4] Butler returned to her mother in Miami and began performing in comedy clubs, settling on the stage name "Brett Butler" as a play on the southern U.S.Gone With the Wind character ofRhett Butler. She moved to New York City in 1984, and was arrested for possession of marijuana.^[4] In New York, she met her second husband, Ken Zieger, and they were married in 1987.^[4]

In 1987, Butler made her television debut onThe Tonight Show. Also that year, she performed onDolly Parton's short-lived variety series,Dolly. Parton hired Butler as a writer for the remainder of the show's season, but the series was cancelled after one season of lackluster ratings.^[6]

In 1993, Butler starred in theABC comedy seriesGrace Under Fire, created byChuck Lorre.^[7] Butler starred as Grace Kelly, a divorced single mother and recovering alcoholic. The show begins after the main character divorces her abusive alcoholic husband of eight years in an attempt to start life anew and prevent her children from making the same mistakes she did. For her performance, Butler received twoGolden Globe nominations forBest Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1995 and 1997, and won aPeople's Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in 1994.^[8][9] She reprised her role of Grace Kelly inThe Drew Carey Show andEllen in 1997.

Butler published her memoir,Knee Deep in Paradise, in 1996. The book was started before attaining her celebrity status, and candidly addresses much of this time, ending the autobiography beforeGrace Under Fire's debut.^[10][11]

Behind the scenes, Butler battled a recurring drug addiction and spent time in rehab.^[12] In February 1998, due to her erratic behavior stemming from substance abuse, she was dismissed from the show and ABC cancelled the series.^[13][14][15] AfterGrace was cancelled in 1998, Butler moved from Los Angeles to a farm in Rome, Georgia. In the following years she made selected screen appearances in the filmsBruno (2000) andMrs. Harris (2005), and guest-starred on an episode of the NBC sitcomMy Name Is Earl in 2005. In 2008, Butler headlined at an arts fundraiser and spoke freely with a reporter about her depression, past drug addiction, television work, and current life on the farm. She also expressed interest in writing another book.^[16]

In October 2011, Butler appeared onThe Rosie Show and reported being sober since 1998.^[17] According to anEntertainment Tonight interview at around the same time, Butler, unable to maintain the costs of her farm, had lived in a homeless shelter, though in a 2021Hollywood Reporter profile, Butler denied that she was ever homeless, and said she was paid to fabricate this claim for the show.^[18][19] By this time Butler was attempting to make a career comeback and was working on developing a reality TV show about her self-professed psychic abilities and performing at the Downtown Comedy Club in Los Angeles.^[20]

In June 2012, Butler appeared in a recurring role on theCBS daytime soap operaThe Young and the Restless playing ex-psychiatristTim Reid's girlfriend.^[21] She returned for two episodes in March 2015.^[22] Later in 2012, she began appearing in a recurring role as the bartender at the restaurant that Charlie Goodson (Charlie Sheen) frequents in theFX comedy seriesAnger Management.^[23] Butler appeared in a total of 38 episodes from 2012 to 2014. In 2016, she played herself in the comedy-drama filmThe Comedian starringRobert De Niro.^[24]

Later, Butler began appearing in dramatic roles. She guest-starred in two episodes of HBO drama seriesThe Leftovers, and had a recurring role as Michaela's (Aja Naomi King) adoptive mother Trishelle in the ABC legal thrillerHow to Get Away with Murder in 2016.^[25] From 2018 to 2019, she played Tammy Rose Sutton in the AMC horror series,The Walking Dead.^[26] Also in 2019, she took a recurring role as Sandy Jackson, the mother ofReese Witherspoon's character in theApple TV+ drama series,The Morning Show.^[27][28]

• Brett Butler atIMDb
• Brett Butler at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 1958 births
• 20th-century American actresses
• 20th-century American comedians
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century American comedians
• Actresses from Georgia (U.S. state)
• Actresses from Montgomery, Alabama
• American film actresses
• American memoirists
• American television actresses
• American women comedians
• American women memoirists
• Comedians from Montgomery, Alabama
• Living people
• Actresses from Houston
• People from Rome, Georgia
• Comedians from Georgia (U.S. state)
• Comedians from Houston

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