Legendary entertainer Carol Burnett had to trick her daughter into rehab in a desperate bid to save her from drug addiction.

The Annie star's eldest daughter Carrie Hamilton, who was also a performer, spent years battling substance abuse issues, but had turned her life around by the time she was diagnosed with lung cancer, which led to her death in 2002, aged 38.

Burnett has opened up about her loss, and the pair's rocky relationship, in a new book - Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story - and explains she went to extreme lengths to help Hamilton at the height of her drug troubles.

She tells Access Hollywood, "I write about the drug issue because that was really tough. I remember being so naive and not knowing how to react to this problem because she had been an all-A student. We didn't know what she was going through...

"I realised I had to love her enough to let her hate me. So I tricked her into going into rehab for the second time. She was very angry but she came through. I had my baby back again after that, until she got sick."

Burnett adds she felt cheated when her daughter was struck down with cancer: "She was on her way (up) when the cancer struck. I write about her brave fight."