Carnie Wilson was only 15 years old when her uncle and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson died — but he left a lasting impression on her.
“He was always, like, this mysterious, sexy man,” Carnie, 57, revealed during the Wednesday, April 30, episode of “The Magnificent Others” podcast.
She confessed, “He was my uncle, but like, I’d get butterflies around him.” Carnie noted, “He’s very handsome. He was very sensitive.”
Carnie was a teenager when her uncle died in 1983 at the age of 39 after a drowning accident. Dennis died two decades after he and his brothers, Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson, founded The Beach Boys alongside their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.
The musical group formed in California in 1961. In the 1980s, the members went their separate ways and pursued solo careers. Brian, 82, reunited with Love, 84, and Jardine, 82, as well as member Bruce Johnston in 2012 for a 50th anniversary tour and several more performances. (Love is still touring with the band.)
“They all three had big, big talent,” Carnie, who is one of Brian’s seven children, said of the Wilson brothers on Wednesday.
Carnie proceeded to reflect on not only the impression Dennis left on her as a young girl, but the connection she had with her late uncle Carl and her father’s legacy.
“Carl was an amazing writer, amazing singer. He really had such a great sound. He was protective,” Carnie recalled of her uncle, who was a singer and guitarist for the group, before his death in 1998. Carl died at the age of 51 after a battle with lung cancer.
Carnie — who is one third of the girl group Wilson Phillips — remembered her dad watching her career from “behind his door” while her uncle Carl was more vocal about her life as a musician.
“Carl was like, ‘You guys just have to keep going,’” she said. (Carl even joined Carnie and sister Wendy Wilson on their 1993 Christmas album, Hey Santa!, with background vocals.)
“I miss him very much. I think about him all the time, and I have pictures around my house, and I feel his spirit a lot,” Carnie shared. “And my dad really misses his brothers, like, a lot.”
When it comes to her father, Brian, Carnie explained how strong he’s been since being put under a conservatorship in 2024 following “a major neurocognitive disorder” diagnosis, according to a court filing on the matter.
“I’m so proud of him for being the survivor he is and the contribution to music,” Carnie gushed. “I don’t want to cry, but his contribution is so beautiful and the layers of all his music is so beautiful, and what I want people to understand is he is so grateful.”
She added: “He is so grateful to the people that love his music and the lives that he’s touched and he’s aware of it all.”
