true blue

A big star of the small screen marries a rock and roller a creates a life of cozy domesticity. Seem unlikely? To Heather Locklear it comes naturally, along with a passion for cool and sexy clothes.

BY LESLIE MARSHALL • PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARK LIDDELL • STYLED BY DANIEL CAUDILL

Heather Locklear settles herself at a table at Casa Vega, a divey Mexican restaurant in Sherman Oaks, Calif., that's one of her favorite haunts. Outside it's a gloriously sunny day, but inside darkness prevails. She looks around with a smile. "This is like a rock and roll hangout," she says. "Those people at the bar? They think it's 1 A.M. Look, they have sunglasses on. I love it."
     No such props for Heather: In a simple white T-shirt and sweatpants, the 41-year-old actress (wife of rocker Richie Sambora and mother of Ava, 4) is facing the day with almost no makeup. Armed with a box of tissues, she's tending to the cold that kept her confined to bed earlier this week. Even so, with her signature storm of blond hair and sunny smile, Locklear, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, is an oasis of glamour in the darkened room. And that's before she switches on the killer charisma.
     Easing into a discussion on life, love and style, Heather explains, "I'm not that fashion-conscious. I guess I've always considered myself a jeans-T-shirt-and-thongs person—your basic California girl." Then she adds, "My girlfriend Juliet Walsh makes these butterfly sweats I'm wearing. I have to show you how cute this is." Removing the white sweatshirt tied around her waist, she exposes a tanned and zero-body-fat strip of a midriff. Locklear fiddles with the waistband of her sweats and twists like a contortionist to examine the back label. "Do you see a little butterfly back there?" she asks, tipping her derrière up off her seat. "Juliet designed it so that when you roll the waistband down you can see the butterfly face up." Then she picks up her fork again, seemingly oblivious to the fact that, for the guys lunching at Casa Vega, it's all over. Most of them have stopped eating, and several look as if they're ready to rush over to examine Locklear's butterfly themselves.
     As small as it is, the moment says plenty about Locklear: First, even past 40, with sniffles and no makeup, she can walk into a room and exude sex appeal. And second, beneath the wholesome exterior and the playful Valley-girl talk lurks a Hollywood insider who has been around long enough to know what she's got—and how to use it. Call her the stealth bombshell.
     "Heather is very, very smart," Sambora says later. "She has handled her career fabulously all the way through." Aware, perhaps, that naughty can be more compelling than nice, Locklear has spent much of her time scheming and seducing on the small screen. She played the conniving Sammy Jo on Dynasty (1981-89) and the manipulative Amanda Woodward on Melrose Place (1993-99) before taking on the canny Caitlin Moore on Spin City (1999 until last May, when the ABC comedy was canceled). In an industry full of ambitious babes, her strategy of homing in on characters who are both bodacious and complex has given Locklear remarkable staying power.
     The demise of Spin City means that the actress is free to consider new roles—and, perhaps, to change directions. "I'm going to miss the cast and crew," says Locklear, who played opposite both Michael J. Fox and Charlie Sheen. "It was one of the best ever. But this is a very exciting time for me." Though she won't talk about her next move, she says she's holding out for "something good—something edgy, something original." In the meantime, she's reminding herself "not to jump on something just because it's there." She adds, "At this time in my life, if I'm going to have to be away from my daughter, it'd better be so worth it."
     These days Heather seldom joins Richie, a songwriter and guitarist for Bon Jovi, when he's on the road. Instead she stays home in L.A. with Ava, who will enter preschool next fall. On their evenings together, Locklear often puts on her pajamas when Ava does and enjoys a night of reading after her daughter goes to sleep. "It's so quiet, it's delicious," she says.

     Sambora, in turn, tries not to be away from home longer than 10 days. "He's really good about it," says Heather (who was married to Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee for eight years). "He'll fly back from Australia to see us for maybe 48 hours." By her account, the New Jersey-born Richie, 44, is "an easy guy to love—the one you want to be married to. And I got him when he was past all the rock-star"—she puts out a hand as if to shield the tape recorder—"[expletive]. Thank God!"
     A die-hard romantic who still sends Heather long love letters, her husband of seven years remains dazzled by his luck. "Heather's the best," he says. "The first time I met her I was so struck with her looks I couldn't even summon the nerve to speak; [and] she was still married to Tommy. But every time I saw her, there was a cool vibe between us." Now Sambora describes his wife as a kind of domestic goddess: "Heather is a fabulous mother—lots of love and affection and laughter. And she's fiercely loyal, to her friends and her family and to me."
     So loyal, in fact, that in 1999, when she landed the part on Spin City (then produced in New York City), she wavered until she knew that Sambora was willing to pull up stakes. "My husband said, 'Yeah, I'll move.' I was like, 'What? You rock!' she recalls. Though some performers might have felt blasé about switching coasts, this actress was exhilarated: "That was one of the best things I've ever done—being a big girl and moving to New York with my family," says Heather (whose parents and three siblings all live in the Valley). "New York embraced me in all sorts of ways; people would wave and call, 'Heather!' I loved it." And the shopping scene, she says, altered her fashion consciousness forever. "I'd walk out my door and I'm at Barneys, I'm at Prada, I'm at Gucci—all these amazing stores. I even went to my first and only fashion show—Michael Kors."
     In 2000, when Fox left Spin City, the production moved to L.A. Back home Locklear began to see her East Coast look in a new light. "I bought these things that are just spectacular, but where am I going to wear them?" she moans. "I live in Thousand Oaks! Who do I think I am, walking into Chili's, a family restaurant, wearing those outfits?"
     Now, says Heather, her wardrobe is out of control. "I still have all my clothes from Melrose Place and Spin City—every season I come home with a rack of clothes. I have beautiful purses, beautiful shoes, great skirts. But now I'm at a point where I'm just throwing things in the closet. It's just in piles and piles."
     Not that Locklear's giving up. She pulls out the stops for special occasions: "I have a black Gucci suit that I love. I usually don't wear a whole lot under it. And I love high heels. As a matter of fact, what did I do last night?" (The stealth bombshell is back.) "I put on a La Perla rhinestone string bikini for my husband, and I wore it with high heels—Manolo Blahnik, I think. I'd just gotten [fake]-tanned by my girlfriend, and I thought I looked pretty good. Richie was at the ASCAP ceremony; when he got home with his awards, he said, 'Oh, nice tan.'" (Not that Heather was disappointed: "Eventually," she says, laughing, "he saw the rest of me.")
     But the bikini act doesn't happen often. "Most nights, Richie and I are at home, just hanging out with Ava," says Locklear. "We take the pillows off the couch—we make sure to get extra-deep couches, so we can all sit together, side by side, and watch TV," says Locklear. "Mush."
     As if on cue, her cell phone rings. It's Sambora, at home with Ava. "What are you doing, darling?" she says. "Oh, you did? Did she take her nap? Wow—she's going to sleep well tonight." Locklear promises to stop off at Versailles, a favorite Cuban restaurant, to pick up a takeout meal of garlic chicken, rice and beans. After delivering the food, she says, she'll head to the gym.
     Yesterday, it seems, Locklear skipped her workout—something she usually doesn't do. Instead, she says, "My girlfriend and I went to see Unfaithful. It was sad ... Diane Lane messed up her marriage for a really gorgeous, young, beautiful guy. I was supposed to work out after the movie, but I was so disturbed we decided to go have a martini instead." Heather laughs. "Then we called our husbands and said, 'I'll never cheat on you, I'll never cheat on you!'"
     Though her own marriage is happily conventional, Locklear won't rule out another project in which she's a bad girl—or maybe part of a family that's a little off-kilter. Before she heads back out into the sunny day, the actress considers the possibilities. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," she says. Her eyes narrow. "Something edgy—something you can't do in real life. I'm not sure." Her eyes brighten. "Have you seen The Osbournes? Unbelievable. I love it. Maybe they'd let me move into their house," she says. "I'll live their and be a special guest—and my family can come and visit."
     Memo to MTV: She's available—at the moment. •