Cheryl Ladd was a successful actress in the hit Charlie’s Angels – but her work led to the disintegration of her first marriage.
However, through her first husband she met the man she has now been married to for 42 years.
Read on to hear about how this happened and how happy their blended family is now.
If there’s such a thing as a perfect-looking woman, it had to be Cheryl Ladd.
And what I can gather, she’s also a nice person. Does it get any better?
I still have one of her vinyl records from back in the day – think it was called ‘Think it Over.’
But when Cheryl Ladd was first offered a role in the wildly popular “Charlie’s Angels,” it was to replace beloved actress Farrah Fawcett. From the beginning, the actress did not feel she could live up to Fawcett’s legacy.
In the movie that Ladd joined, she happily agreed to play the younger sister of Fawcett’s character. She eagerly joined the show, more confident than ever as she paved her own way instead of replacing Fawcett.
In the end, Ladd was incredibly grateful to the show for launching her long career,
”It was a rocket ship. It was wonderful. It made me a household name and gave me a career for years,” she told Closer Weekly in 2018.
But being a star also came with a cost. She eventually admitted that the hours of work and added stress from the show largely contributed to her divorce from her first husband, David Ladd.
She revealed that the work days while she was filming “Charlie’s Angels” were too long. She was separated from David and their daughter, Jordan, far too often, and the couple separated shortly after.
The divorce was eventually a blessing for both parties as each moved on. However, Jordan, their daughter, was hurt by their divorce and had a harder time moving past it.
Ladd became closer to her former husband’s best friend, Brian Russel, in the wake of the former couple’s separation. Ladd and Russel eventually married, with Russel finding a new daughter in Jordan and Ladd becoming a stepmother to Russel’s daughter from a previous marriage.
”We are in the golden time right now. We started out as friends, we still are and that is the thread that’s really bonded us. There have been good times, horrors, all of that, but by the time you get here it is just yummy. We’re always tackling new projects, like building houses, writing books. I’m so lucky that we found each other,” Ladd says about her husband.
The husband and wife remained very close as they grew to know and love their daughters together. Ladd admitted that Russel’s daughter became like her own. She also explained how hard it was when the girls eventually moved out of the blended family home, saying:
“I went from two girls to no children, and I was a little bipolar about that. Part of me sat on the bed and cried, ‘I miss the girls!’ The other side said, ‘Honey, we can run around naked!’ But yes, it is a big change.”
The couple never had any children together but did profess that they had previously discussed the possibility. They ultimately decided they would take time to work on themselves and blend their families before considering a baby.
Another child never came for them. Still, the family was very happy together over the years, getting to know one another and finding ways to spend time together.
Ladd had more time to spend with Russel and the girls once she stopped filming “Charlie’s Angels.” She began doing made-for-T.V. movies and was at peace if that was the only acting she was ever asked to do again.
”I was 19 when I got that part (Charlie’s Angels) and 25 when I was cast as Kris Munroe. I did a lot of small parts, on The Streets of San Francisco and all these cop shows. My mother kept asking me to find parts where I wasn’t getting killed all of the time because she was getting depressed! There were 50 no’s to maybe one yes,” she shared.
When looking back on her career, the star mused:
“I didn’t get to be Julia Roberts, but I have a great husband and two wonderful children, and I’ve gotten to work with some wonderful actors and played a lot of interesting roles. I feel guilty even thinking I should complain about any of it.”
Jordan, Ladd’s daughter from her first marriage, made an attempt to follow in her mother’s footsteps and soon learned just how challenging the career path could be as well.
She expressed at a later time that it took some getting used to when she realized how discouraging it could be out there. After many auditions and rejections, she finally started to see some success around 1997 as an actress.
Jordan said, “I love my family; I love my work. I’m in love. I just feel so lucky.”
Her mother, Cheryl, has not let the years keep her from still working either.
The actress is now 71, a grandmother to three, and is still taking roles.
In April of 2022, it was announced that the actress would star in “A Cowgirl’s Song.” Speaking about what taking a role like this meant for her, Ladd said:
“I loved the movie,” Ladd said. “I loved the script when I read it. I knew it was something I had to do, and I get to sing in it. So that was special.”
She shared that many aspects of her life keeping her feeling happy and healthy. One of the most important, according to the star, is her strong faith.
She also still participates in yoga and believes that her love for her husband, children, and grandchildren help to keep her healthy and happy.
Cheryl Ladd and Jaqueline Smith were my all-time favorite angels!
Cheryl Ladd stole my heart and made my eyes widen just to behold that amazing smile! I’m glad she stuck up for what she believed in and found true love to boot!