Bo Derek on Her Teenage Love Affair With John Derek & That Life-Changing Role in ’10’
After finishing a call with her farrier (that’s a craftsman who trims and shoes her horses), Bo Derek ran into her California house and got on the phone in 2020 to chat with our sister publication, OnDISH Magazine, about her episode of the REELZChannel premiere docuseries In My Own Words (available on Tubi and Apple TV+).
As her three German shepherds, Chico, Luke and Smokey said hi in the background — part of a game created by her longtime boyfriend (now husband) John Corbett — Bo laughed about it, admitting it was just a bit of a distraction, before opening up about what it was like to get the chance to finally tell her own story.
“I just watched it yesterday,” Bo said of the documentary. “I put it off until the last minute, because I’m very uncomfortable with this idea. I finally watched it yesterday. I found it really interesting.”
Knowing Bo is an extremely private individual, we found the documentary as fascinating as the superstar herself. In the film, those who know her take us on a little-known journey of her life.
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“It was a leap of faith, I have to say,” she added. “It’s rare that you get to tell your story in your own words. I’ve been in the business now forever, and I’ve never been given this opportunity. I usually don’t take part because you feel you’re just adding more fuel to whatever bomb they want to build and drop on you and your reputation. … sometimes I’ve participated because maybe I’ll diffuse some of the negativity, but in this case, I talked with Bill [Katz, the series director] and although it was a leap of faith, I just felt I could trust him. I’m not saying I controlled all of it and that I made it exactly the way I would have told my story, but I just saw the cut yesterday and I’m not going to change a thing. I think we all have in our backgrounds decisions we made or situations that make us cringe a little. And I certainly have some of those; no regrets, but I’m really pleased.”
The film weaves together her life, starting with her high school days (she left school at age 16) and her family dynamics (her father was a Hobie Cat executive and her mother worked for Ann-Margret). She shared with us how she got her first peek into celebrity life.
“My mother and father were friends with Ann-Margret and her husband, Roger Smith. They went on trips together. They were very close,” she said. “Then when my parents separated and divorced, Ann-Margret was incredibly generous and gave my mother an opportunity to come and work for her as her hairdresser. So my mom went and earned her license in cosmetology school and then went to work for her as her hairdresser.”
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Bo was just a teenager when she was discovered and traveled to Greece with director John Derek. An exotic locale with a heartthrob director led to the two falling in love and a 22-year marriage. Bo didn’t plan it that way, but Linda Evans, John’s wife at the time, knew this was more than just an infatuation. There is a touching moment in the documentary with Evans that left Bo almost speechless.
“God, that just really floored me. I didn’t know they had asked to interview her about me for this piece, and I didn’t think she would do it,” Bo says. “To see that — it was very emotional for me and very difficult to watch her. She’s so honest and opens up. That was pretty incredible. It really took me by surprise. … She’s a very private person and I didn’t expect that at all. It really, really affected me.”
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After John died in 1998, Bo admitted that it completely derailed her. “There were five years where I didn’t even date. Not because I told myself, ‘Oh, there was only one man for me.’ I was open to it, but the sparks didn’t fly.”
Of course, the episode also explores her life-changing role in 1979’s 10, the film with which her name has become synonymous. Bo’s first press conference for the movie holds some intrigue, and she shares how different times are today regarding actresses and how much more prepared they are for media.
Orion/courtesy Everett Collection
“I didn’t ever even fantasize being famous or being the subject of a press conference like that, a big one,” she said about the segment. “So I wasn’t even, in my imagination, prepared. Whereas today, most actors are groomed and are prepared. They have publicists, they have agents, they’re in their mind prepared for these things. They want them. I really wasn’t. I just came onto the scene accidentally. I didn’t have an agent. I didn’t have a lawyer, a publicist and the entourage that normally goes with an actor. So I was completely blindsided by it all. And now with social media, and I look at young people and they are camera savvy. You never hear that expression, ‘camera shy,’ or [being] uncomfortable in front of a camera anymore. They’re prepared.”
Now Bo is proving to live a “10”-level life. Her Instagram feed — yes, she has dipped into social media — is filled with positive stories about animals and her other charitable work.
Bo summed things up quite well about her life and current views: “I’m not on a mission to change people’s minds or be remembered for anything. I think the older I get, what matters is how good a friend I’ve been to people I care about.”
Where Are They Now - The Seventies
June 2022
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘70s?
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