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 he is “alive and well” but prefers to “stay a bit ‘undercover'”, in a post on Instagram.
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The oldest child of I Love Lucy stars Lucille and Desi Arnaz included two new pictures 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 clasped around his arm. In another, they are looking into the camera.
The pictures were taken at a family gathering, as Lucie thanked her husband Laurence Luckinbill’s son Nick for treating them to a “grand 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 – just likes to stay a bit ‘undercover’.”
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In another photo, Lucie can be seen posing with British singer-songwriter and Las Vegas entertainer Clint Holmes and his wife Kelly.
Lucille and Desi first met in 1940 while filming the musical comedy Too Many Girls, when they instantly hit it off.
They got married six months later, as Lucille and Desi eloped on November 30, 1940.
The comedic duo, who catapulted to fame with I Love Lucy, welcomed their first child together, Lucie, on July 17, 1951.
Desi was born 18 months later on the same day that Lucille’s character gave birth to Little Ricky on I Love Lucy.
He later clarified that his mother, whose pregnancy was written into the show, didn’t give birth to him on-air in a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“I was actually born that Monday morning and the episode aired that night,” he said. “Many people thought that I was born on the air.”
Fans also mistakenly believed Desi played Little Ricky’s character on the show after he appeared on the cover of the first issue of TV Guide as a toddler with his mother.
“Because that cover was so widely seen, everyone thought I played Little Ricky, and that’s stuck with me throughout my life,” he told TV Guide, in an interview commemorating its 60th anniversary in 2013.
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Desi Jr. began his musical career at the age of 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 the drums and the group went on to open for acts like The Beach Boys, People reported.
He earned acting credits on shows The Brady Bunch and Here’s Lucy, acting as Craig Carter alongside his mother and sister from 1968 to 1972.
Desi Jr.’s turn in the 1971 show Red Sky at Morning earned him a Golden Globe.
His parents divorced in 1960 after 20 years of marriage.
In an interview with People in 2022, Lucie opened up about how her brother helped their father get sober one year before Desi died in 1986.
The American actress said that while Desi “resisted going into AA” for many years, “he finally did after his wife Edy died.”
“He was just so upset that my brother convinced him, I think, ‘Come on, Dad. You can do this.’ 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’ve ever done.’ Because that was hard for him. It’s hard for everybody, but for him especially it was really hard,” 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 sitcom.
The following year, a documentary titled Lucy and Desi was released, with both of the couple’s children making appearances in the film directed by Amy Poehler.
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