Heather Locklear has always been one of my favourite celebrities.
With blue eyes, she made her way to the top and starred in iconic TV series like Dynasty and Melrose Place, earning millions of dollars. However, her personal life was marred by scandals and troubled divorces.
Read on to find out why her family is deeply concerned about her condition and why she feels ‘helpless’ about the star’s current lifestyle, as well as what events led to her sad downfall.
Hollywood can be a very cruel place. One moment you’re on top of the world and then you’re thrown away like rubbish. Just ask Heather Locklear – she knows what she’s talking about.
Over the past few years, a slew of tabloids have detailed her personal struggles, highlighting her alleged drug and alcohol use. The reality, however, is that Heather Locklear’s tragedies began in her youth.
Twice faced with tragedy.
We’ve seen it many times before – the typical American girl achieves stunning success. Beautiful, successful, with important connections. It all started for Heather in high school.
With her blonde hair, big blue eyes, and dazzling smile, it was impossible not to be noticed. At the time, she was often compared to the legendary Farrah Fawcett.
From the outside, everything seemed perfect. But was it really so?
If you look at what Heather said in old interviews, the picture changes. Despite future success and recognition, she suffered from self-esteem issues in her youth.
Heather described herself as a shy kid with ‘bony elbows, acne and braces.’ She dreamed of being part of the school cheerleading team, but she was considered too thin and weak.
There were no major problems at home, however, and Heather described her childhood as filled with love and happiness.
The actress often spoke warm words about her parents and praised their strong marriage. Her mum was a producer and her father was a former Marine colonel.
‘My father was a Marine colonel, very loving, but he had a look in his eyes when he wasn’t happy,’ Heather told the New York Times.
Family disaster
However, there were some horrific events that shook Heather’s childhood – the kind of things that no child should ever have to experience up close.
When he was just 16 years old, his uncle committed suicide. In 1986, Locklear’s 27-year-old cousin also committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun.
These tragic deaths shook the Locklear family. The horrific events still cause Heather to shudder when discussing them.
Television viewers didn’t even realise it when fame came to Heather. Many saw her as a ‘nice girl’ – almost to the point of boredom. But that all changed with her first marriage. After all, the man with whom she tied her life was not ordinary at all.
Dancing with Tom Cruise
After her breakthrough on the primetime soap opera Dynasty, Heather was often seen in the arms of rock stars and other talented actors.
In the early 1980s, Tom Cruise and Heather Locklear became lovers after an audition. It wasn’t exactly a date, but Heather talked about their stormy night together on an episode of the show Chelsea Lately.
According to Heather, the duo decided to spend one night together because Tom didn’t have many friends in Tinseltown at the time. Tom, of course, was thrilled to be able to spend the evening with a big and beautiful star like Heather. Although Tom was an aspiring actor himself and had achieved success with the film Risky Business, he didn’t reach Heather’s level.
Apparently, Tom Cruise showed off some of his crazy moves from the film Risky Business, which made Heather a little embarrassed. ‘You just stand there and you don’t know what to do,’ he recalled, and then continued, ’Do you dance around that?’
The actress decided to sit back and watch Cruise work his magic. That was the end of it, after that night the couple never met again.
Relationship with Scott Baio
Scott Baio’s combination of charm, acting talent and roles in popular television series made him a big star in the 1980s. At the time, the Hollywood hottie was popular with many girls, but he was also in love with Heather Locklear.
‘Heather Locklear was the first girl I fell in love with,’ Scott Baio told People and then added: ‘She’s the best girl in the world and I just blew it.’
The duo first met in 1983 on the set of Battle of the Network Stars. Scott was struck by Heather’s beauty and fell in love with her at first sight. The feeling was mutual, but eventually their relationship fell apart. The reason? Scott Baio was unable to make a serious commitment.
Dated Mark Harmon
NCIS series star Mark Harmon was not always married to his lover Pam Dawber. Before their marriage, Mark was one of Hollywood’s most attractive bachelors.
In 1986, People magazine even recognised him as the sexiest man alive. At the time, Mark starred as Dr Robert Caldwell in the TV series ‘The Private Life of a Hospital’ and could well be Hollywood’s choice of single women, although he may not have been fully aware of his own popularity. Her film colleague Christina Pickles, who played nurse Helen Rosenthal in ‘Hospital Private Life,’ once remarked on how women reacted to Harmon’s appearance.
‘Mark’s sensitivity comes out in his handsome face, and women like that,’ he said in a 1986 interview with People. ‘I don’t think he fully realises the effect he has on women.’
‘Forget about Mel Gibson,’ said actor Donna Mills. ‘Every time I see Mark, I think, ‘Is this your place or mine?
Heather Locklear, of course, also noticed Mark Harmon, and the two had a brief romance in 1984. They probably would have made a great couple, but fate had other plans. According to the NCIS star, their romance was short-lived.
‘It started around Christmas [1984], but it was over by New Year’s Eve,’ Mark recalls, saying Heather was ’just a cup of coffee for me emotionally.’
His first marriage
In 1985, Heather Locklear began dating Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. They first met at a concert by the band REO Speedwagon.
‘He was a bad boy, and that image excited me. Maybe it was my way of rebelling,’ she says.
Unfortunately, their marriage soon began to fall apart. Nevertheless, the couple remained married for almost eight years.
‘I loved Tommy very much – though not for long,’ she said. ‘I did the best I could.’
They originally planned to stay together for life, and Heather often talked about getting married just once.
‘I think we’re going to be the coolest grandparents in the world,’ Tommy Lee excitedly told People shortly after their union. ‘We’ll be 85 or 90 years old each; I’ll still be a rock pig, and Heather will still be beautiful.’
The couple split in 1993, but Heather soon found love again.
Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora
Less than a year after her divorce, Heather Locklear found love again, this time with rock star Richie Sambora, lead guitarist for the band Bon Jovi. Their paths crossed in New York City during one of Heather’s PR trips to Melrose Place.
Heather and Richie faced the challenges of living on different coasts of the US: he in New Jersey, she in California. But despite the distance, the couple made it work.
They wed in 1994 at an office in New Jersey. Not satisfied with one ceremony, the newlyweds soon travelled to Paris for another.
As the ex-wife of strapping Tommy Lee, the 33-year-old star of the ‘Dynasty’/‘Jay Hooker’/‘Melrose Place’ series said she found something different and special in Richie Sambora.
‘He’s very down-to-earth, family-oriented and very close to his parents,’ Sambora noted in 1998. ‘Who I am as a person, Richie is as a person. We are mirror images of each other.’
Sambora, on the other hand, also led a hard rock ‘n’ roll life; he was rumoured to be dating Cher, among others. But when she saw Heather, her life changed.
‘I was having a great time dating women,’ he recalls. ‘But once I met my wife, I realised I’d had enough. I was done with that. I think the same thing happened to her.’
Heather says her second marriage was very different from her first when she walked down the aisle.
‘I took a very different attitude than I did in my first marriage,’ she said in 1996 and continued:
‘I told her: ‘This is who I am and this is what I want’.’
The couple would spend weekends at their mountain home in Lake Arrowhead near Los Angeles.
‘We’re very boring. We go to the same three restaurants for dinner and eat the same food. We like to sit around and talk,’ Heather says.
In many ways, Heather and Richie seemed to live like an ordinary married couple, despite their celebrity status.
‘By all accounts, they were the perfect couple,’ says Jamie Bufalino, senior editor of People magazine. ‘A lot of their friends were jealous of their relationship.’
In 1997, the couple had their only child, daughter Ava. As a child, Ava could often be seen on stage during Jon Bon Jovi concerts. She would sometimes introduce them to the audience and even dance with the band members.
As the daughter of two stars, her not-so-common upbringing could have been a nightmare. But it seems to have worked out – Ava is now a very intelligent and highly educated woman.
Unfortunately, her parents’ marriage didn’t work out so well.
Breakup with Sambora
Rumours about the imminent breakup of the couple were very different, some tabloids claimed that their quarrels were connected with the adoption of a second child.
Speculation grew to the point where Heather and Richie were forced to respond to the news.
‘There’s really no story. The truth is that after 11 years together, we are still happily married. Boring, but true,’ the couple said in a joint statement to the New York Daily News in December 2005.
A few months later, things changed. After eleven years of marriage, Heather Locklear filed for divorce. She cited irreconcilable differences, a typical cause of celebrity divorces. But the aftermath of Heather’s divorce was not typical at all.
It all started when Heather’s publicist broke the news of the divorce in February 2006. However, there was one problem – Richie Sambora had no idea that his wife wanted a divorce.
The rocker was shocked by the news, as the message apparently didn’t reach the rocker, who had recently been on tour. He responded to a question from reporters about what happened between the couple. Richie stated that the news of their divorce was ‘completely untrue’ and that he and his wife were preparing for Valentine’s Day.
However, the fact remains that Heather did indeed file for divorce. And as time went on, more and more sordid details began to surface. According to People, Heather came across an email sent to Richie Sambora by a woman they both knew. The email contained provocative photos.
The discovery was the final straw that left Heather ‘absolutely devastated.’ Sambora, however, categorically denied any marital impropriety.
Heather Locklear and Denise Richards, what happened?
But the fuss surrounding her divorce didn’t end there. The breakup caused a rift between Heather and her close friend Denise Richards. Shortly after the divorce, Richie Sambora began dating Denise, who had also gone through a hard-hitting, highly publicised breakup with Charlie Sheen. Since Charlie and Heather had become friends after working together on the TV series Round Town, the two couples were well acquainted.
The divorce brought Denise and Richie together and they ended up falling in love, which of course Heather didn’t like. There was speculation that a possible affair between Richie and Denise was the real reason for Heather’s divorce, although Denise denied it. However, it’s clear that Richie and Denise’s relationship hurt Heather deeply.
‘It was very hard,’ Denise Richards told Entertainment Tonight in 2006. ‘You can’t help who you fall in love with, and that friendship unfortunately ended and there was no saving it.’
According to Denise, she and Heather were never ‘best friends’ and did not steal a friend’s husband, as some malicious rumours have claimed. A reunion with Richie was the last thing she wanted, but there was nothing that could be done now that they had broken up.
‘We (she and Sambora) were friends, we were both going through a divorce and that’s what attracted us to each other… I didn’t steal anybody’s husband. Was I dating the ex-husband of the ex-boyfriend’s ex-husband? Yes, you did. Did I break up the marriage? No,’ Richards said in an interview with Us Weekly.
Denise Richards and Richie Sambora’s relationship was short-lived. They broke up in early 2007 but remained friends after that. In 2011, the couple made another attempt but eventually decided to remain friends.
Get in touch today
Despite the tumultuous circumstances surrounding their divorce, Heather and Richie managed to maintain a good relationship. Years after the breakup, Richie Sambora revealed in an interview with People that he and Heather still love each other.
‘Time heals old wounds. I mean, I still love Heather, and I know she loves me. She’s the mother of my child. What can I say?’ – Richie explained.
Of course, their adorable daughter Ava plays a key role in maintaining healthy communication between the two. Both parents are incredibly supportive of her, and when Ava Sambora walked the runway at the White Trash Beautiful Spring 2011 fashion show, Heather and Richie stood side by side. They’ve also been together at several Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations.
‘We’re doing really well. In fact, we’re even more than we need to be [for our daughter],’ Richie told Access Hollywood in a 2012 interview. ‘Heather and I have a lot of respect for each other and I think we’ve become best friends now that we’re not married.’
The last few years, as many of you know, have been quite difficult for Heather Locklear. She has been arrested several times and has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. The first warning sign came in 2008 when someone claiming to be Locklear’s doctor called 911 to report that the star was suicidal.
Paramedics rushed to her home and police investigated the incident, but Heather’s publicist later claimed the alarm was false. However, police believe the call was genuine.
Unfortunately, Heather’s condition continued to deteriorate and she had already undergone drug treatment 20 times. Shortly after the wake-up call in 2008, the six-time Golden Globe Award nominee went to a medical centre in Arizona for treatment for anxiety and depression. In 2018, Richie Sambora revealed that he hired a team of professionals to care for Locklear after she relapsed into alcohol problems and was arrested for domestic violence and assaulting a police officer.
Richie helped organise and cover the costs so Heather could stay in a long-term care home where she was supported by top doctors and psychiatrists.
‘Of course, I will always be there for Heather and especially Ava. I am very proud of my daughter for her composure and strength during this difficult time,’ Richie Sambora told the Daily Mail.
Heather seems to have become more stable in recent years and has been rumoured to have been alcohol-free for several years. Unfortunately, in 2023, some disturbing photos were published that once again raised fears for her health.
The New York Post published photos of Locklear acting inappropriately and talking to herself in public, which raised concerns that she may be struggling again.
We sincerely hope Heather is feeling well today. It’s not easy to reach the level of television fame she has achieved, with all the consequences that entails.
But she seems like a truly wonderful woman, so we wish her all the best in the world and hope she finds happiness for years to come. Sending her positive vibes and love to continue her journey.
