Celebrating Carol: 90 YEARS OF LAUGHTER & LOVE

To coin her catchphrase: So glad we had this time together

After a lifetime of breaking glass ceilings and making the world weep with laughter, you'd think nothing much could faze Carol Burnett - but turning 90 has got her stumped.

"I can't wrap my head around it," says the comedian, who celebrated her milestone birthday recently. "I still feel like I'm about 11. It sure went fast, but I'm glad because I've got all my parts - got my hips, I got my knees and I've got my brain, so I'm happy about that."

Throughout the decades, Carol has ridden her share of highs and lows, from the success of The Carol Burnett Show through the '60s and '70s to the tragic loss of her eldest daughter Carrie in 2001.

"Life can turn on a dime," muses the star. "So just be grateful for today."

Carol had a bumpy start to life. Born in 1933, her parents divorced when she was still at primary school and she went to live with her grandmother in a one-room apartment in a slum area of Hollywood.

Every now and then, they'd save enough pennies to see a movie, but they'd offset the expense by taking a few rolls of toilet paper home from the cinema.

As a teenager, she dreamed of attending the prestigious University of California but couldn't afford the $42 tuition fee.

It was then, Carol says, that her first big break came in the form of a mystery benefactor.