News
Carol Burnett’s Estranged Daughter Erin Hamilton Speaks Out as Son’s Guardianship Ends
Carol Burnett’s estranged daughter, Erin Hamilton, celebrated her son Dylan’s success and his court-ordered guardianship coming to an end.
Erin speaks to In Touch exclusively ahead of the guardianship ending on September 14, when Dylan turns 18.
Dylan graduated from high school in May and enrolled in college, according to court documents. A court appointed lawyer for Dylan said the teen is “doing really well.”
A final hearing in the case is scheduled for next week. Erin, who had rules in place on when she could contact and see her son, tells In Touch, “I’m excited to rebuild my relationship with Dylan. We have already started the process and will continue now that the guardianship will be over. I love my son more than anything.”
She continues, “I’m so proud of Dylan who is in film school in New York and doing really well.”
Erin tells In Touch, “I’m also just so proud of him. He’s grown into a really wonderful young man and I’m very grateful to all that gave him this experience. It was the perfect thing that needed to happen for me and for him and now we just get to be so much better very happy.”
Back in 2020, Carol, 91, along with her husband Brian Miller, filed a petition to be named coguardians of Dylan.
In the filing, Carol said her daughter Erin was not fit to be Dylan’s guardian. She said in the past 19 years, her daughter had been “in and out of rehabilitation centers and has been institutionalized a total of eight times for a minimum of 30 days each time.”
The judge signed off on the petition.
A couple of months later, Carol and Brian asked the court to put a third party named Jodi Montgomery, who had worked on Britney Spears’ conservatorship, to take over as guardian of Dylan.
As part of the case, Erin was eventually granted supervised visitations and communication with Dylan.
However, last year, court-appointed counsel for Dylan demanded Erin be stripped of her visitation. The lawyer accused Erin of exhibiting “erratic and unpredictable conduct.” The lawyer asked that Erin not be allowed to see Dylan until a future hearing.
The judge signed off on the request. The hearing on whether Erin’s visitation would be reinstated was postponed several times.
At one point, Erin told the court she was sober and wanted to see her son before he left California for college in New York.
She said, “I am hardly a danger to my child. I have been drug/alcohol tested consistently since moving back from Hawaii and I work with people in treatment and I must remain completely sober in order to keep my job. I love my job and I love being sober.”
“I miss my son terribly, and I feel that this is a punitive situation brought on by people trying to keep me away from my son until he moves out of state. There has been no attempt from my family members involved in this court case to get to know who I am today. I am not the same person that I was,” Erin added.
As part of her plea, Erin told the judge, “I have a sponsor in AA and I also sponsor three women. I am an active member in this 12-step program, and I take my sobriety seriously.” Erin pleaded with the judge for permission to attend Dylan’s graduation. The court shut down the request but allowed Erin to have lunch with her son following the ceremony. “If all goes well with the visitation then, in the Guardian’s sole and absolute discretion after consulting with [Dylan], [Dylan’s] counsel, the monitor, among others if needed, further visitations can be scheduled before [Dylan] leaves California for college,” the guardian told the court at the time.
A hearing is scheduled for next week.
