Actress Barbara Eden is sharing details about a physically uncomfortable moment from the beloved sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie.
While speaking to People magazine in September 2025, in celebration of the NBC show’s 60th anniversary, Eden discussed portraying the sometimes sneaky, but always charming, genie. After she shared that her favorite moment from the five-season show was its 1965 pilot, “The Lady in the Bottle,” Eden revealed her “least favorite moment” while playing Jeannie. According to Eden, there was a situation where no one helped her out of Jeannie’s bottle. On-set photos show that the interior of “the bottle” was elevated, meaning she needed a ladder to get in or out.
“I think the only time, and it was when the crew and Larry [Hagmanwho played Major Anthony Nelson] and the whole cast left me in the bottle at lunchtime and I was starving. I couldn’t get out of the bottle,” said Eden during the People interview. “I had done the scene in the bottle, but I couldn’t get in or out of it. There was no ladder, and I yelled and I screamed. But everything else was always comfortable. No, well, I [as Jeannie] was stuck in the safe [in Season 3]. That wasn’t comfortable.”
Barbara Eden Opened up About Her Time Playing Jeannie in a 2024 Interview
Eden, now 94, discussed her time playing Jeannie in a 2024 interview on ABC 36’s Good Morning Kentucky. She said that while I Dream of Jeannie “was a job,” at the end of the day, she “loved doing it.”
“It was five years of heaven,” said the actress in the interview.
She also noted that she was pregnant with her late son, Matthew Ansara, who died in 2001, during the first season of I Dream of Jeannie.
“Of course, I had my baby on the show. The very first year I was pregnant. So that was a gift. Two things I loved to do,” said the actress. “I had a wonderful cast around me. It was wonderful. I’ll never forget it.”
She also suggested that she is most recognized for playing Jeannie, despite appearing in other popular projects like Harper Valley and Flaming Star.
“I went on and did other things, but people remember Jeannie. And that’s alright,” said Eden in the 2024 interview.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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