Actress Heather Locklear has described the night she went out on a date with Tom Cruise 40 years ago. The 62-year-old, who enjoyed a successful TV career through the 1980s and 1990s, met Cruise when both were in the early days of their fame. They had crossed paths at an audition and then later bumped into each other at an event in Florida. They eventually went on a date to Club Lingerie, and while Locklear said Cruise was “very nice,” she was nevertheless distinctly unimpressed by his dance moves.
Cruise later came to Locklear’s home with his friend Sean Penn, and she recalled he was so polite that he called her “ma’am.” The actress explained that she went to a nightclub with Mr. Cruise and saw firsthand a dance move – dropping to his knees and sliding along the floor – that he would later use in his 1980s movie Risky Business. “He was very nice to me,” she said. However, it was not to be, and the couple never took off.
Locklear married Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee in 1986 but divorced him in 1993. She married Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora in 1994, and they separated in 2007. In 2020, Ms. Locklear became engaged for the third time to high school pal Chris Heisser. Both ex-pupils of Newbury Park High School in Los Angeles, they met again years after graduating, and Locklear said she intends to spend the rest of her life with him.
Los Angeles native Locklear was a TV staple in the 1980s and 1990s, with roles in the cop show TJ Hooker, glitzy soap opera Dynasty, and later in the drama Melrose Place.
Her personal life was not without its tragedies, and in 2008, 911 operators received a call from someone stating he was Locklear’s doctor and that she had attempted suicide. First responders attended the actress’s home and found her ok, but later insisted they believed the call was genuine. Months later, she booked herself into an Arizona medical facility for anxiety and depression and stayed for four weeks. Months after her release, she was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol near Santa Barbara.
