It's about time one of the cast of The Facts of Life came out. While many people had their guesses, the cast member that has made the announcement is Geri Jewell. Jewell played Blair's cousin Geri who was a comedian and someone with Cerebral Palsy. Her character provided a personal look at Cerebral Palsy and the stigma around disabilities in general. While it was a small role, she was on 12 episodes from 1980-1984, it made Jewell the first person with a disability cast in a recurring role. Jewell has also been a regular on the series Deadwood and The Young and the Restless.
Geri discusses the discrimination in Hollywood and the fear she had about coming out among many other topics in her memoir, "I'm walking As Straight As I Can."
The Facts of Life is by far my all time favorite show. I even went to a live taping and it is one of my favorite memories. Now my main reason for watching the show was the character Jo played by Nancy McKeon. Many people feel that if the show was made today Jo's character would have been gay. While we will never know if that is true we can still dream.
There are a ton of fan videos out there that have some fun with the "chemistry" the characters Blair, played by Lisa Welchel, and Jo have on the show. While I had a blast looking at a bunch of videos from the show and from fans, I couldn't resist putting this one up.
Oh, don't we wish!
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