Kathy Garver Shares Update on Former ‘Family Affair’ Costar Johnny Whitaker

Decades after Family Affair brought them into America’s living rooms, Kathy Garver and Johnny Whitaker are still finding their way back to each other after their lives took very different paths.

Garver, 80, told Entertainment Weekly on August 11 that she recently reunited with her former onscreen brother in Los Angeles during a Marilyn Monroe tribute, nearly 60 years after the beloved CBS sitcom debuted.

“I saw him last night at the Marilyn Monroe tribute!” she told the outlet.

Garver said their lives took very different directions after they played siblings Cissy and Jody on Family Affair, which premiered in 1966.

“His career went in a totally different direction, so I think he helps people off drugs now,” she explained before adding “good for him”.

While Garver continued working in movies, television and theater, Whitaker largely left show business behind. His years as a child star, however, left him with memories that never disappeared.

Whitaker, 66, played Jody, one of a set of twins alongside Anissa Jones, who portrayed Buffy.

His life was shaped in part by tragedy. Jones died in 1976 at just 18 years old from an apparent drug overdose, a loss that had a lasting impact on him.

Speaking to Woman’s World magazine in May this year in a rare interview, Whitaker said Jones’ death prompted him to rethink the direction of his own life.

“It was at that time that I realized that I might need to become a little bit more normal and do some more normal things,” he explained.

He returned to school, became involved in student government and joined a spirit team.

Garver said Jones’ death remains one of the saddest chapters connected to Family Affair and believes too many child stars have faced similar struggles.

“It’s just so sad,” she said. “We’ve lost so many of the child stars because of the drugs, and there’s no one there [to support them].”