Carol Burnett Book: Comedian To Publish Memoir On Late Daughter, Titled ?Carrie And Me?

Comedian Carol Burnett is coming out with a memoir about her late daughter, Carrie Hamilton.

Carrie and Me will be published by Simon & Schuster and is scheduled for release in April 2013, the Associated Press reported.

Hamilton, a writer, singer and actress -- and the oldest of three daughters Burnett had with her ex-husband, producer Joe Hamilton -- was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001, which spread to her brain, according to an ABC report. She died in 2002 at the age of 38.

Hamilton famously became addicted to drugs as a teenager, starting at the age of 13, ABC reported. She was addicted to cocaine, marijuana and Quaaludes, the Los Angeles Times reported in her obituary. While Hamilton and Burnett were open with the media about the struggle to get the younger woman off of drugs, their candidness was not purely for therapeutic reasons.

Basically, I did it because I didn't want anybody else talking about my kid, Burnett said in a 1987 interview with Oprah Winfrey. I figured if we talk about it first and tell the truth then nobody can make it worse than what it is.

Burnett added that the side effects of talking about the issue were positive, including shedding light on the topic of drug addiction.

In 1979, when Hamilton was 15, she spoke with People magazine about her addiction troubles and the challenges of living in her mother's spotlight.

I was always Carol Burnett's daughter, she said. When I got high, I wasn't anymore. I wanted my own image.

Burnett and Hamilton collaborated on a few projects. They acted alongside each other in an episode of Touched by an Angel. Mother and daughter also co-wrote a play titled Hollywood Arms, which they developed from Burnett's memoir, One More Time. The play was still in the development stages upon Hamilton's death.

The Balcony Theatre in the Pasadena Playhouse was renamed the Carrie Hamilton Theatre in July of 2006 in memory of the late actress, according to a report in the LA Times.

Words cannot express how touched and moved I am to hear that you and the Pasadena Playhouse want to re-name the Balcony Theatre after Carrie, Burnett wrote in a letter to a theater official. Nothing would have meant more to Carrie than to have a place to develop new works, establish theatrical workshops, and outreach to inner city kids. She loved people, and she loved her work. She would have taken to this in a heartbeat.

Burnett is best known for her comedic chops, particularly her work on The Carol Burnett Show, which ran from 1967 through 1978. One of the show's most memorable sketches was a spoof of the film Gone With the Wind. Titled Went With the Wind, the skit featured Burnett in the role of Scarlett O'Hara, wearing exaggerated versions of the costumes worn by actress Vivien Leigh. One of Burnett's crazier getups, a version of the famous green dress fashioned from drapes, is on display in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Here's a video of Burnett talking to Oprah about her daughter's battle with addiction.