Actress Charlene Tilton, famous for her role as Lucy Ewing on the popular series “Dallas,” spoke candidly about what kept her spiraling out of control as a young actress on the most popular series in America. “I was planted in a really good church when I was on ‘Dallas,’” she told Fox News Digital. She also credited great people being around her, including singer Donna Summer, famous for her disco music. Summer herself experienced a dark period away from God before leaving a life of antidepressant dependency to return to Him. In reflecting on her return to God, Summer said, “I never stopped being a Christian. Being born-again is an affirmation that the person is going to make a personal effort to walk closer to God and bring Him into one’s life and start following His way.” 

Tilton, now 64, was only 17 when she began her role and said her “Dallas” castmates were very protective of her. She noted how Larry Hagman, who played her uncle JR Ewing, advised her on handling the pressure of fame. Hagman was already famous from his role on “I Dream of Jeannie” and had nearly buckled from the pressure. “But he learned from himself, and he really became a shining example to all of us on-set,” said Tilton. “He used to always say, ‘Don’t worry, be happy.’ And he lived by that. He had an infectious laugh. He just got so much joy out of everybody. He was eccentric and joyful. I loved that he was never too big to talk to anybody, as big of a star as he was.”

Tilton spoke highly of how her castmates kept her out of the drug scene in an interview with Page Six in 2021. “There was a lot of stuff going on in the ‘80s if you remember,” she said. “And I’m telling you, it was by the grace of God in their protection that I was not a casualty of the things that were going on in the ’80s.” She said her castmates expected her to be fully professional despite being so young, which helped to keep her accountable and away from a lot of the party scenes.

Since her time on “Dallas,” Tilton has faced setbacks and triumphs. Despite the success of “Dallas,” one of Tilton’s accountants embezzled her money and was jailed while another mismanaged it. She also cared for her ailing mother, furthering her financial ruin. Her fiancé, Cheddy Hart, passed away in 2009, causing Tilton to fall into despair and drinking for a few months before she says God called her out of it. “One day, I just heard God say to me, ‘You’re going to just lay down here and join Cheddy, or you’re going to get up and live the life I have for you? I have a purpose and a plan for your life, you know that,” she recalled. She is now a grandma to two boys, living in Nashville near her daughter, Cherish. She also has a role in the new Pure Flix movie Heaven Sent. Speaking with “The Talk of the Town,” she said she likes how the film portrays Christians as being “real.” “It doesn’t just show them as being holier than thou, it shows them as real people,” she said.