“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.”

This quote about age didn’t originate with Ann Landers
Back in March, we debunked a Facebook post that claimed Winston said: “When you’re 20, you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40, you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you’re 60, you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place.”

Fast-forward seven months and we’re looking at a nearly identical post — only this statement is attributed to the late advice columnist Ann Landers.

“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us,” begins the Oct. 17 post titled “Aging Gracefully.” “At age 40, we don’t care what they think. At age 60, we discover that they have not been thinking of us at all.”

Karen Valentine remembers the difficult journey that got her to her acclaimed position as a student turned teacher in the popular television series Room 222.

Contrary to her time on The Dating Game, which she says was a “awful” experience with no love lost, the show that launched her into fame is a love she still cherishes.Celebrities including Suzanne Somers, Tom Selleck, Leif Garret, and Farrah Fawcett participated in the first dating reality show, The Dating Game, before they were well-known.

The show also served as a launching pad for upcoming actors.

One of those celebrities, Karen Valentine, was invited to the dating program that Chuck Barris also founded after making an appearance on his television series Dream Girl of 1967.

Valentine, a former teenage beauty pageant winner, was offered the chance to speak with three available men who were hiding behind a partition.She acknowledged that she had assumed the appearance would be “harmless fun,” but said that her “choice” had made the whole thing awful.

“That was awful, because the guy thought that this was really going to be a date, right? The Dating Game got more serious later where people would be sent on trips,”

Valentine, now 76, explained “I only got to go to the Ambassador Hotel to see a show, but the guy thought we were going to make out in the limo and it, was, like, ‘You know this is a first date, right?’ It was so sleazy. You’d go to dinner and then to a show, which is the prize I won, but the guy thought this was serious. I wanted to get out of the date. You know, ‘Save the money, who needs to go on a date? Let me do another show. Give me a shot at acting or something.’”

After putting that regret behind her, Valentine was hired for the 1969 television film Gidget Grows Up, which led to her main part in the popular TV series Room 222 (1969–1974). In the experimental television program, a black high school teacher who strove to instill tolerance in his students was portrayed by the award-winning actor Lloyd Haynes (1934–1987).

James L. Brooks, the man behind The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and movies like As Good as It Gets and Terms of Endearment, conceived the show, and Gene Reynolds, one of the MAS*H developers and producers, produced it.

Valentine and Michael Constantine, who were both nominated for supporting roles in My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002, received Outstanding New Series awards for Room 222 in 1970. Michael Constantine also won Outstanding New Series for My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002.

“It was kind of mind-blowing to have that happen so soon, so quickly,” said Valentine of her first nomination and win. “And to meet Carol Burnett and her saying, ‘Well, congratulations for this.’ It was like, ‘Thank you.’ But that Carol Burnett would know me? Just incredible.”

When the young actress first met another renowned actor, she recalled feeling awestruck.

“I remember I was taking singing lessons at the time, and I went to my singing class,” Valentine started. “Also taking lessons was Gregory Peck… When he walked by, I was at the teacher’s piano and he saw me through the window and kind of mimed, ‘You did it!’ I was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s Gregory Peck!’ How was it that I had the fortune to meet these stars and talented people from the get-go?”

Although Room 222 received high marks from critics, its fourth season saw a decline in viewership, leading to its midseason cancellation.

“Why things changed, I have no idea,” Valentine said, recalling when the network told the cast the show was cut. “But they did have the wherewithal to give us the word that it was happening, and it was sad … well, it’s always sad, but especially when you feel you have a good product and a good show, for it to be taken away. But in the end, the network made the decision to go in a different direction. That’s what they always say, ‘We’ve decided to go in a different direction.’”

She starred in Karen (1975), a show Reynolds produced after Room 222 was canceled, but it was discontinued after four months due to low ratings.

Describing the show’s premise as “controversial political stories that were a savvy, humoristic reflection of then-current headlines,” Valentine said, “The original opening titles were a take-off of the opening of the film ‘Patton.’ Instead of George C. Scott, you had me marching up to an American flag background. Really clever, but never aired.” She continued, “It was changed to me riding a bicycle around D.C. The network envisioned something softer, more romantic and personal, and not too complicated, as opposed to an issue-oriented drama/comedy in the political arena. I’d say it was ahead of its time.”

Valentine, a stage performer who has previously made appearances on Broadway, maintained her career as a guest star on The Hollywood Squares from 1971 to 1977 as well as in episodes of Murder She Wrote and The Love Boat.

Her most recent movie, Wedding Daze (2004), which aired on the Hallmark Channel, featured her alongside John Laroquette.

Valentine recalls Room 222, which brought her success very early on, with only good memories:

“Working with all of those people, and to have that kind of experience first time out–the show just brings back the fondest and best memories in the world to me.” She adds, “…It also kind of spoiled me, because it set the bar really high. So when other things come to you, you think, ‘What is this?’ It was different, you know. But I was fortunate that I did get material that was pretty fun and well done.”

Jase and Missy Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” hope that Mia will soon be done with surgeries after she completed her fourteenth procedure to correct her cleft lip and palate.

Their daughter, age 18, underwent surgery last month and is now recuperating at home.

Since the daughter’s birth in 2004, the family has endured a protracted and challenging process of having to transport her to the hospital for numerous operations.

This week on his podcast “Unashamed,” Jase Robertson gave listeners an update on his daughter’s health together with his father Phil and brother Alan.

She’s turned a corner,” the loving father stated.

Jase said, “Everything seems great, seems to be fine,” when asked how she was doing on her breathing.

“Surgery went a little longer than expected, but she is home and recovering,” he told podcaster listeners. “Thank you for praying for her and for our family. She is a champion!”

Missy Robertson opened up about her anxiety regarding the surgery on Instagram.

“People ask me, ‘How many more surgeries does Mia have left?’” Missy wrote ahead of surgery on July 8. “The answer is always, ‘We just don’t know.’”

Mia Robertson announced in a more upbeat social media post that she was at the “finish line.”

“Hopefully the last time I’ll see my doctors in this setting! It’s been a long road but we are at the finish line,” she declared.

Mia Robertson has been making her own decisions since her thirteenth operation in the spring of 2021, and her mother, Missy Robertson, admits that she is still getting used to this.

“Since she is 18 now, she is taking the lead in all the discussions and medical forms. It’s been a little strange,” Missy Robertson wrote. “But it’s just another reminder to lean on the Lord and that I’m not in control.”

Missy Robertson, who has three biological children and one adopted kid with her husband, told The Christian Post that she and her husband think that their family’s suffering over their daughter’s illness has not been in vain.

“Looking back, especially over the last couple of years, we definitely see reasons for Him allowing us to go through this and allowing Mia to go through the pain and the challenges that she has in her life,” she said.

“She wants to help other people,” she added. “To me, that speaks not only about a greatness about her, as an individual, but about the greatness of our God to see something in a child, long before she was born, that could help influence people and to bring them closer to Him. Who am I to question that about Him?”

In order to ensure that all children are happy, Mia Robertson established the Mia Moo Fund.

Cleft lip and palate are birth defects that happen when the lips and roof of the mouth do not correctly fuse together during pregnancy.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every 1,600 babies in the US is thought to be born with a cleft lip and palate. About 1 in 2,800 pregnancies result in a baby being born with a cleft lip in addition to a cleft palate. In the United States, one in 1,700 infants is born without a cleft lip but with a cleft palate.

“One of the functions of the Mia Moo Fund is to spread awareness of the cleft lip and palate journey,” Missy Robertson said in an earlier interview. “The other one is to help with medical funds for the parents and the families living right here in America.”