Heather Locklear on the skids
She used to be one of TV’s hottest actresses but drugs and booze have taken Heather Locklear to the edge yet again
HER characters experienced everything from abductions, arson and imploding marriages to earth-shattering explosions. Yet Dynasty’s Sammy Jo Carrington and Melrose Place’s Amanda Woodward sailed through them all with a flick of a lustrous blonde lock and a flash of perfect pearly whites. But the actress who helped these shows secure a place in soap opera history hasn’t emerged as unscathed from the ups and downs of life. In fact, to say the past few years have been rough on Heather Locklear would be an understatement. The 56-year-old’s latest catastrophe has taken her close to the edge. Police were called to Heather’s Thousand Oaks home in California recently after she reportedly became embroiled in a fight. She was described as “heavily intoxicated and uncooperative”, apparently tried to punch one of the cops and kicked a paramedic in the chest. After being arrested and booked on two counts of battery, she was released on $20 000 (R270 000) bail the next day. It’s hard to believe Heather was once
an all-American beauty who seemed to have the world at her feet.
THE ’90S GIRLBOSS
It’s not surprising young Heather caught the eye of TV producer Aaron Spelling – she had the classic sun-kissed, blonde, blue-eyed look popular at the time.
He cast her in Dynasty, cop drama TJ Hooker and later Melrose Place. Her role as Amanda Woodward, a sexy but hardnosed advertising executive, catapulted Heather to stardom, earning her four Golden Globe nominations.
“Amanda came along at a time in my life when I needed to confront myself and other people, both personally and in business, and say things I’d normally be afraid to say,” Heather once said. “This character has helped me to be strong.”
Amanda was “a ’90s version of feminine power”, entertainment journalist Adam White writes in The Telegraph. She was, White adds, “a sexually uninhibited #Girlboss long before such a thing existed”.
LOVE & HEARTACHE
But Heather hasn’t been lucky in love. In fact, a broken heart seems to have set her on a path of destruction.
Her first marriage in 1986 to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee ended after seven years, with his wandering eye rumoured to be the reason for the split.
Heather handled it well. “I’m not devastated or destroyed,” she said at the time. “It’s mostly just sad.”
It was her second marriage – to former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora – that seemed to be the start of her problems. After a whirlwind romance they tied the knot in Paris in 1994, welcoming a daughter, Ava Elizabeth, in October 1997.
But by 2006 the marriage was on the rocks after Richie got too close to Heather’s former BFF, actress Denise Richards.
Heather’s battle with depression and addiction apparently started after she found an email to Richie containing “provocative pictures of a mutual acquaintance”, a friend told US magazine People.
Heather filed for divorce and turned to drugs. “She’s held it together but something felt off,” the friend said at the time. “It just got to the point where she wanted to feel great again.”
She dated Melrose Place co-star Jack Wagner for four years before they announced their engagement in 2011 – but called it off three months later.
Now friends are concerned her latest love, high school sweetheart Chris Heisser, is bad for her. Chris, a builder and former motocross racer, spent two years behind bars for theft and fraud, but that doesn’t bother Heather. In September she captioned an Instagram pic of them, “My favourite person. Forty years later.”
But in February Heather’s brother, Mark, called the cops when she and Chris had a violent fight. In a police report Heather claims Chris tried to choke her while he claims she attacked him.
When the cops tried to cuff her Heather “flipped out”, the NY Post reports, calling a female officer a “c**t” and kicking a male officer in the groin – all in front of Ava.
Chris was arrested on a nearby highway less than an hour later.
TRYING HARD
In 2008 Heather checked into a rehab in Arizona for anxiety and depression. She spent four weeks there but two months later was arrested for drunk driving.
She struck a plea deal for a misdemeanour that included three years of informal probation, a drug-testing programme and a $700 (R9 450) fine.
She seemed to settle down, taking small roles in movies and shows, but in January 2012 the cycle started again.
She was briefly hospitalised after her sister Colleen called 911 saying she was “out of control”. Heather had apparently mixed Xanax, the prescription pills she was taking for anxiety, with booze.
She was in and out of rehab several times over the years, and reached out to fans in January 2017. “I’m feeling great and am taking steps to enrich and better my life. Currently I’m working on tying up some loose ends regarding certain issues so I can hit 2017 full steam ahead.”
But her latest arrest shows she’s anything but in control. A day after being released on bail she was admitted to hospital after a suspected drug overdose. She’s now agreed to long-term treatment to address her problems, TMZ reports.
“Sources connected to Heather’s family tell us doctors at the hospital where she was taken after her latest arrest have conducted a battery of tests that have painted a clear picture. Heather’s problems involve substance abuse and mental health in equal measure, although it’s possible the latter is even more serious than the former.”
Her family are rooting for her. “She has so much talent and beauty, and we hate to see that wasted,” a relative says. “But she’s fighting a lot of demons. The only thing she can do is go back to rehab and try again.”