Rumors have persisted for decades about the supposed feud between Golden Girls stars Bea Arthur and Betty White. Last year’s ABC News special The Golden Girls: 40 Years of Laughter and Friendship (now streaming on Hulu and Disney+) did a deep dive into the pair’s complex relationship, and it turns out the rift hasn’t been all that exaggerated. Arthur and White’s issues were reportedly rooted in their different approaches to acting. Arthur took comedy seriously, whereas White had a more laid-back style.

“I used to get calls at home from Bea complaining about Betty,” said Golden Girls co-producer Marsha Posner Williams in the special. “I got a call from Bea one day, and she said, ‘I just ran into that woman at the supermarket. I’m going to write her a letter.’ I said, ‘Bea, do yourself a favor. Please write her a letter, read it out loud, and then throw it away, because [it] would serve no purpose.’”

The Nude Calendar That EASED THE TENSION BETWEEN Bea Arthur AND Betty White

Things apparently came to a head for Arthur and White the week they were working on Season 3’s “‘Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas,” in which Blanche (Rue McClanahan) gives Dorothy (Arthur), Rose (White) and Sophia (Estelle Getty) her “Men of Blanche’s Boudoir” calendar as a Christmas gift. As writer Barry Fanaro tells it, Arthur and White got into their first and only screaming match on set that week. “The next day, you could feel the tension in the air a little,” he remembered. 

According to Fanaro, the stagehands came up with a NSFW idea to help lighten the mood behind the scenes, and it actually worked. “They had taken naked pictures of themselves, riding horses, in saddles, as firemen. So they had planted them in the calendar, and that immediately broke any tension,” he explained. “Bea laughed so loud,” recalled executive producer Tony Thomas. “It was all over. They were hugging each other,” added Fanaro.