Gabrielle Union Gives Fans BTS Look of Herself as Tootie in ‘Facts of Life’ Live

Published Dec 8, 2021

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3:13pm

Gabrielle Union just had a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. The 49-year-old actress starred as Tootie Ramsey in the live performance of Facts of Life.

Union was joined by Kathryn Hahn, Allison Tolman, Kerry Washington, Will Arnett, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Hart and John Lithgow for the third installment of Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear's Live in Front of a Studio Audience. The special ABC event featured reenactments of episodes from the popular 1980s sitcoms, The Facts of Life and Different Strokes.

Ahead of the television event, Union gave fans a special sneak peek at her character, Tootie, which was originally portrayed by Kim Fields on the sitcom from 1979 to 1988.

“Tonight I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to honor the QUEEN @kimfieldsofficial and her iconic role of Tootie on Facts Of Life. As a Black girls growing up in the 1980s we had very few role models on TV and film, but we had Kim. Thank you for leading and showing us how amazing we actually are. Please show love and praise to the ICON KIM FIELDS.”

In the clip, the author films her own opening credit scene alongside the sitcom’s theme song. In the following moments, she sings the entire song while sitting in her actor's chair on set (not going to lie, it’s pretty impressive).

Fans and fellow actors filled the comments section with praise for the actress and her new look. One user wrote, “You’re so good, I’m loving it,” while another added, “That was amazing !!!! I love Tootie !!!!!!!!” Mindy Kaling even chimed in, “OMG.”

First Jen as Blair and now Gab as Tootie? This is almost too much to handle.

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Alexandra Hough

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