In the wake of “Laverne & Shirley” star Cindy Williams’ death last Wednesday at age 75, the actress’ beliefs about faith and God are receiving renewed attention.
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Williams is best known for entertaining audiences as Shirley Feeney, performing alongside Penny Marshall, who played Laverne, in the popular sitcom, which ran from 1976 through 1983.
The iconic actress has openly discussed her faith over the years, speaking with QRO magazine in 2021. Williams told the outlet she believed in heaven, prayer, and God. And when asked if she prays, she said, “Is there anything or anyone to pray to other than God?”
Williams explained how faith is central to her everyday life, recalling times God would even pop up while filming “Laverne and Shirley.”
“I’m with God all day. I remember one time this joke didn’t work, and I tried and tried, and I turned to Penny and said, ‘Maybe Jesus can make this joke work.’ I’m constantly in that frame of mind, even when I’m throwing hissy fits,” she said. “I’m in the presence of God and God is in my presence. Otherwise, I wouldn’t make it through, if not to believe that everything is well and good, and that this universe it built on love.”
Williams also spoke about “people who are afraid of God or Christ,” expressing her belief they misunderstand who God is and for what He truly stands.
“I think they are fearful because they see God as the great punisher. God is unconditional love, and with that comes great humor,” she told QRO. “When you take humor out of a society, you take a lot of love out of that society. That’s what I think is happening now.”
The TV legend also shared similar sentiments in a 2015 interview with Psychology Today’s Dr. Michael Friedman, who described Williams as “a devoutly religious person with an unshakeable faith in God.”
She spoke about gratitude, forgiveness, and other faith-related issues.
In that interview, Williams described God as being a part of her life since she was born. She reflected on her Aunt Renny preaching the Bible to her as a young child and how she spent every Sunday in church during her younger years.
“I learned all of my Bible stories. I loved all of the powerful images and escaped into them. Jesus and Moses and the great people of the Bible,” she wrote in her 2015 book, “Shirley, I Jest: A Storied Life,” discussing the challenges she faced with an alcoholic father. “For that hour in Sunday school, I was safe.”
Williams affirmed in her Psychology Today interview that faith was simply always part of her life.
“I don’t know how I can talk about this, but God was imbued in me from the time of my birth, and me in him,” she said. “And I just had this sense of always being all right, even though the situation might be dire. Where that came from, I don’t know, but it just enhanced my knowledge of a power that was unconditionally good, and there for me. And so it was in that spirit that I grew up.”
Based on Williams’ interviews, some of her beliefs seem difficult to categorize, as she made some statements about salvation and the Lord that don’t necessarily line up with biblical understandings.
“There are also people who believe in God who go too far, who say, ‘If you don’t believe this way, you’re going to hell,'” she said. “I don’t believe like that at all. I believe that God is everything and all of us.”
It’s unclear what she meant by this statement, though her willingness to openly discuss belief in these instances is relatively rare in the entertainment industry.
A related issue Williams did comment on was her decision to remain fairly quiet about her faith within Hollywood circles — something she said she did to avoid the “cynics” and arguments about belief.
“I’ve always been keenly aware that you just don’t bandy about God in the public square in Hollywood. You just don’t, because there are just too many cynics,” she said. “And I just don’t want to have to argue. What’s the purpose in arguing God? I mean, there is no purpose in that.”
Read more about Williams’ beliefs here.
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