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.