It seems like the Desperate Housewives of Wisteria Lane had a constant run with bad luck.
But the cast of the show experienced a fair share of dramatic events in their own lives off-screen.
Two cast members were diagnosed with cancer, and tragically
only one of them survived. And another cast member was even sentenced to time behind
bars. Perhaps that bad luck of Wisteria Lane seeped into their personal lives.
Before we take a stroll down Wisteria Lane, remember to subscribe to Rumor Juice and give
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Felicity Huffman
Lynette Scavo was the super mom of Wisteria Lane. She survived a gunshot, cancer and juggled five
kids like it was no big deal. Felicity bagged an Emmy for her turn as Lynette Scavo on the show.
After Desperate Housewives came to an end, the actress earned Emmy nominations for her work
in American Crime. Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the ball of success stopped rolling.
In one of the biggest college admission scandals the United States has ever seen,
the award-winning actress was one of the people arrested and charged with
having paid someone to secretly correct SAT answers on her daughter, Sophia's, test.
She pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to try and cheat her daughter's way into college
and was subsequently sentenced to 14 days in federal prison.
"I would like to apologize again to my daughter, my husband, my family and the educational
community for my actions. And I especially want to apologize to the students who work hard every day
to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices supporting their children."
Sophia was unaware that her parents had bribed to have her SAT scores improved. In fact,
when she found out what her mother had done, she felt completely betrayed and embarrassed.
Felicity confessed her daughter cried and asked 'Why didn't you believe in me?
Why didn't you think I could do it on my own?'. As a mother she felt like she had let
her daughter down too, and she felt like there was nothing she could say, except that she was sorry.
The New York native completed her prison stay in October 2019
and subsequently began her 250 hours of community service.
Marcia Cross
Bree Van de Camp had to have everything look perfect. Nothing could ever seem out of place,
not even her flaming, perfectly styled red hair. However, behind closed doors,
things in Bree's home were always coming apart at the seams. She battled alcoholism
and had multiple failed marriages as well as a troubled relationship with her children.
Little did Marcia know that her life was going to take a life-threatening turn of its own.
After a routine checkup at the gynecologist,
the actress discovered that she was diagnosed with anal cancer.
"I was so not thinking anything was wrong because I didn't have any symptoms,
and she gave me an exam and came around and said, 'Well, I just want you to know,
whatever it is it's curable,' It was like 'What? What are you talking about?'"
Shortly after her diagnosis, Cross' husband, Tom Mahoney, was diagnosed with throat cancer.
The actress has been very open about her journey to recovery,
attempting to destigmatize any thoughts people may have about the cancer that she has.
"I know that there are people who are ashamed. You have cancer. Should you then
also feel like ashamed like you did something bad because it took up residence in your anus?"
Thankfully, after undergoing treatment and fighting a painfully long battle
that sometimes seemed endless, the actress is now in remission.
"I'm back to normal, though it's a new normal."
She was recently seen on the ABC drama Quantico as President Claire Haas
and we're thrilled to know that she's healthy and back to doing what she loves.
Nicolette Sheridan
If there's one thing that the women of Wisteria Lane knew, is that if they didn't
watch their husbands too closely, they were at risk of being snatched up by the sexy,
confident, take-no-prisoners Edie Britt… until her character met a rather unfortunate ending.
Following the death of her character on Desperate Housewives, Nicolette was not impressed and went
onto sue the creator of the show, Marc Cherry, for wrongful termination and alleged assault.
The actress believed that part of the reason she got fired from Desperate
Housewives was retaliation after claiming Cherry hit her on the head.
"I was a victim of assault and battery by my boss on the set
and I reported him and was retaliated against and fired off the show. All of which is
illegal. There was nobody to stand up for me. I felt like I needed to stand up for myself."
Marc Cherry testified that her fellow co-stars Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman were "relieved"
when Nicollette's character was killed off of the show. He claimed that Sheridan showed
up for work without knowing her lines and that she made "insulting comments"
during table reads, which was seen as unprofessional by everyone else on set.
While Edie's death wasn't a result of the actress's behavior on set,
Cherry confessed that it was a contributing factor. After years of public feuding,
it seems like Sheridan and Cherry have yet to settle over their argument.
"I was vilified for standing up for my rights, not only as a woman but as a human being.
What happened at the end of Desperate Housewives was degrading and demoralizing. I really grappled
with what happened, losing faith in people and really not trusting the business at all."
Since leaving the series, she's starred in a trio of Hallmark films and briefly joined
the cast of Dynasty as the iconic Alexis Carrington before leaving that show too.
Teri Hatcher
Prior to Desperate Housewives, Teri had already made her mark in Hollywood.
She found fame playing the iconic Lois Lane opposite Dean Cain in the series Lois & Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman, in the early '90s.
At the height of the show's popularity in 1995, a picture of Hatcher wrapped in a Superman cape was
reportedly the most downloaded image on the internet. She was on her way to becoming an
A-list actress, and had already been labeled as one of the sexiest women of Hollywood.
Unfortunately, it seemed as though that Teri was not welcomed with open arms on
the set of Desperate Housewives, and there was a lot of tension among cast members.
It was rumored that because of Teri's previous success,
that some of the other cast members were a little envious of that.
The wedge became public knowledge when Longoria, Cross, Huffman and fellow co-star
Vanessa Williams reportedly didn't include Hatcher in their parting gift to the crew.
A production source said:
"The girls don't get along with Teri so they organized this and left her out."
TV Guide magazine's William Keck had watched Hatcher on the set
and said she "physically separates herself from the others during breaks in filming.
Something must have happened seasons into the show ago that created a deep rift."
After the finale aired, and amid widespread gossip about the feud, Hatcher said to TV Guide: "I will
never disclose the true and complicated journey of us all, but I wish everyone on the show well."
Hatcher has laid low since Desperate Housewives went off the air.
She has also developed a love for cooking and won a holiday episode of Chopped.
She launched the YouTube channel "Hatching Change" in January 2018 in order to help her
viewers make "positive changes in your life, your health and your attitude."
Ricardo Antonio Chavira
After eight seasons spent playing Carlos Solis,
Chavira rebounded with a series regular role in the very short-lived comedy Welcome to the Family,
which was canceled after only three episodes in 2013. Since then,
he's had recurring roles on Scandal, Jane the Virgin and The Santa Clarita Diet.
After his Desperate Housewives co-star, Felicity Huffman, was arrested and sentenced to just
14-days in prison, he took to Twitter to express his disappointment at the light punishment,
citing Huffman's white privilege as the source of the leniency.
The actor tweeted, "White Privilege. And I saw Eight years' worth of it, so
I know what I'm talking about. Accountability and Responsibility don't mean shit to these people,".
Kathryn Joosten
Every neighborhood has a busybody and Wisteria Lane's was Karen McCluskey.
At first, she seemed like just another grumpy old lady,
but soon audiences saw that Mrs. McCluskey was always just looking out for everyone.
She even helped some of her neighbors get out of some pretty sticky situation.
During one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the show, McCluskey died during the series finale.
In an almost tragic similarity to her character, actress Kathryn Joosten died of lung cancer
just days after the "Desperate Housewives" series finale aired.
The Emmy-winning actress left behind a legacy of over 100 acting credits
and so she will never be forgotten for the impact she made in the Hollywood TV industry.
Eva Longoria
From having an affair with her teenage gardener John to trying to raise two daughters who never
listen to her, Gabrielle always had a lot on her plate than her neighbors thought.
She was typically at odds with her husband Carlos, and audiences could help but be
entertained by how much the couple passionately argued with each other. They even got divorced and
subsequently remarried, having to battle Carlos' temporary blindness, and financial struggles,
but in the end, they always knew they loved each other no matter what troubles they had to face.
Longoria has remained super busy after Desperate Housewives came to an end. She appeared in several
high-profile ads and campaigns since and even served as a judge on Food Network Star.
The actress also executive-produced Devious Maids from 2013 to 2016.
She married José Bastón in 2016 and welcomed their son, Santiago, two years later.
Five years after its finale, Longoria expressed interest in reuniting with her fellow housewives,
saying that she misses the show "every single day."
She added: "I miss being Gaby. I miss being on that set. I miss everything about it."
Amid the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, some of the cast virtually reunited to raise
money for The Actors Fund, causing a bigger outcry for a real revival of the drama.
Longoria continued: "We've all created these
amazing friendships outside the show that are lasting forever."