Edna Rae Describes How it felt to Find Out Her Husband of 25 Yrs Was Gay

She's best known for playing the maternal, wise-cracking Mrs. Edna Garrett on TV shows Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, but Charlotte Rae recalls it was no joke when she discovered her husband of 25 years was gay, and had cheated on her with a man.

'All I could feel was the betrayal,' Rae, now 86, wrote in a still unsold memoir she titled The Facts of My Life. 

Rae's 25 year marriage to composer John Strauss ended in 1975 when the couple moved to Los Angeles and he confessed he was gay -- and that he had been cheating on her with men.

Heartache: Aging actress Charlotte Rae revealed the humiliation she endured when she discovered her husband was gay. She wrote about her life in a still unpublished memoir 

'First came the shock of what he had done behind my back, then the sting of being deceived for years,' wrote Rae, bore him two sons. 

A copy of the memoir was obtained by The New York Post.

The actress recalls discovering the man she loved was homosexual rocked her self image to the core. 

'John's secret confirmed my feelings of inferiority . . . That I was less than a woman . . . That I didn't deserve to be loved and valued.' 

Wanted out of the closet: 'Amadeus' Composer John Strauss admitted to Rae in 1975 that he was gay 

Laughing on the outside: Charlotte Rae, far left, played the nanny in the 1980s sitcom classic, Diff'rent Strokes

Strauss, who composed the soundtrack to Amadeus, passed away in 2011 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

A multiple Emmy and Tony nominee, Rae appeared as Mrs. Garrett -- the widowed, maternal figure who lovingly looked after Jo, Blair, Tootie and Natalie, in the 80s classic Diff'rent Strokes. She was also in the spinoff series, Facts of Life. 

Besides revealing the gnarly details of her married life, Rae also discussed the 'strange experience' of working in a job where all her 'peers were teenagers.'

The old days: Rae played child star Gary Coleman's mother role. Coleman died two years ago at the age of 42