Being famous sure does look good, especially from a distance, but those people that are actually famous tend to have a difficult time keeping things together. Being a celebrity comes with long hours, photoshoots, fans, and traveling, and for some people, the pressure can be a bit too much. Tom Selleck learned a valuable lesson at a pretty early age, and that lesson set the stage for success in the rest of his life. If you thought you knew the infamous heartthrob before, then keep reading because you’re about to learn a whole new side of him and the unexpected family announcement he made.In 1945, Tom Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan. His parents provided him with a well-disciplined balanced life. While most celebrities have terrible stories of their hard childhoods, Tom publicly praised his parents with how they raised him. “I don’t have any tragic stories of parental rejection. They taught me everything I know,” he said in an interview with AARP.
Have you ever met a person that annoyed you to no end because they seemed to be an expert at everything they tried to do? Well, Tom was one of those people. For some reason, Tom just seemed to be great at everything he did. Wanting to study Business Administration, Tom went to the University of California, where he also received a basketball scholarship. Eventually, a drama coach encouraged Tom to try his hand at acting. Soon enough, Tom ended up at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.
As it turns out, things were really starting to look up for Tom at this point in his life. College was going really well and he was looking forward to getting his degree. He also became one of the star players on the university’s basketball team! Tom was even doing some modeling side jobs and he began to appear in commercials. Thanks to his appearance on the TV show “The Dating Game,” Tom was offered a deal from Twentieth Century Fox. But Tom would soon experience some changes in his life.
Before Tom could sign a movie deal with Twentieth Century Fox, he was drafted into the military by the United States Army. In 1967, Tom proudly served in the 160th Infantry Regiment. “I am a veteran, I’m proud of it. I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense,” he said.
When Tom finally made his way out of the army, he figured that he would just return to the daily grind as normal, but he was sadly mistaken. Apparently, the studio fired him from the movie deal once he was drafted into the army. Unfortunately, that meant that Tom would have to start over from the very beginning if he wanted to get his acting career off of the ground level.
Even though things weren’t looking too good for Tom, and he was feeling a bit down about losing the movie deal, he picked himself up and ended up landing his big break. Tom was offered to play the role of a veteran who becomes a private investigator in Hawaii. Have you figured out what role it was that changed Tom’s life? You guessed it…the hit TV show “Magnum P.I.”
Once Tom joined the cast of “Magnum P.I.” he felt like things were finally going in the right direction. The show itself, on the other hand, had a bit of drama involved in it, especially when it came to issues with funding. Luckily, Tom would bring some positive changes to the show.
Thanks to Tom’s incredible acting abilities, the ratings of the show was one thing that was actually going well for “Magnum P.I.” In fact, Tom won an Emmy for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” in 1984, but that would prove to be just the beginning for Tom’s success.
Magnum P.I.’s rising ratings were only the start of the success of the TV show and Tom managed to take home several Emmys and Golden Globes because of it. “The two things that will defeat a lot of young actors are fear of failure and lack of preparation. With acting, I didn’t have a problem with either one – but somehow I didn’t equate either one of them to the academic world,” Tom said about his achievements.
Unfortunately, because Tom was putting so much of his energy into “Magnum P.I.,” his acting career began to suffer in other ways. The producers of the show forced Tom into passing up major movie roles, such as “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark.” But he didn’t let things like that get him down. “On a day when you’re not feeling so good, you put on a happy face, it’s infectious – these things sound kind of corny and stupid, but this is our life,” he said.
During the ’80s, Tom Selleck was loved by all of the ladies and admired by all the men. And if you were growing up at this time, or you were already an adult by that point, then there’s a good chance you had a poster of the infamous Magnum P.I. hanging on your wall. Honored by People Magazine in 1998, “Television’s Macho Man” will forever be known for earning the title as one of the most beautiful men on the planet.
Other than the fact that he was dashingly handsome, Tom’s mustache definitely brought him a lot of attention. In fact, Tom’s mustache got so famous at one point that he said it needed its own agent, even though it did get confused with another famous mustache a time or two! “There was a time I could have been mistaken for Burt Reynolds. I had a mustache and so did he. But he was the number one star in the world, so there wasn’t really much confusion.”
It’s not surprising that all of the ladies loved Tom, and that proved to be true when Tom met the woman of his dreams. In 1971, Tom got married to model Jacqueline Ray. Everything was going great for the couple, so they decided to adopt a little boy together. Unfortunately, some things don’t stay golden forever.
In 1982, Tom divorced his wife of eleven years, Jacqueline Ray. During this time he was 38 years old and filming in London, but he was a bit lonely. Wanting to help, Tom’s crew took him to see Cats on Broadway. It had always been a dream of his to see the memorable on-stage musical and it actually helped him work through the sadness that he was feeling from divorcing his wife. He even got to go backstage to meet the cast. But for some reason, Tom actually kept going back to see the show!
Other than the fact that Cats was one of the best shows ever put on Broadway, Selleck’s main reason for continuously watching the show was because he had his eyes on 25-year-old Jillie Joan Mack, the actress who played Rumpleteazer. Tom couldn’t believe how talented the young actress was and she left him speechless with her beauty. When he finally gained enough courage to speak to her, he immediately asked Jillie out for dinner. She was flattered by the request, and not wanting to miss an opportunity to spend time with the famous actor, she accepted his invitation.
The pair instantly hit it off and Jillie didn’t hesitate to go back to Hawaii with Tom. After all, her contract was over and she had nothing keeping her in London. She was excited to share experiences with Tom, but it quickly blossomed into a beautiful love connection. It wasn’t long before Jillie and Tom were appearing in public, showing off their newfound relationship. In 1986, Jillie appeared with Tom at his famous Walk of Fame induction, and it was soon realized that Jillie wouldn’t be going back to London at all.
There are quite a few perks to being a big star like Tom. One of those perks is the ability to use your authority to influence certain things, like who gets cast in a film, for example. Thanks to Tom, Jillie was cast in one of the episodes of “Magnum P.I.” called “Rembrandt’s Girl” as an English party girl. Jillie must have been thrilled by the opportunity, especially since Tom was right by her side the whole time.
Even though it was clear that Tom and Jillie were in a relationship, the couple enjoyed keeping everyone guessing about the status of their true feelings. It wasn’t clear if they were actually in love with each other, or Jillie was just enjoying all of the attention, but that all changed in 1987 when Tom enlisted the help of his brother Bob. Thanks to his brother setting the whole thing up, Tom and Jillie were able to get married at a 24-hour wedding chapel in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They wanted a private, intimate ceremony, far away from the public eye, so they used the fake names, Tom Jenkins and Suzie Mack. And what made things even better was the fact that the minister didn’t even know who they were! Finally, the couple was happily married and the public had no idea about it.
The couple was so determined to keep things private that they made sure things were kept under wraps until it was time for them to exchange their vows. They even made the photographer use polaroids so there was no chance of the negatives being leaked to the public. Tom and Jillie wanted their wedding to be about them, and they didn’t want their ceremony picked apart by the judgemental public eye. “They were both nervous, like any other couple about to get married. He was very concerned that the service be heartfelt, very concerned for her that the service be meaningful. He is a very warm, caring man,” said Rev. David Immel, the officiant of the ceremony.
One year after they got married, the couple found out that Jillie was pregnant with a little girl. They knew that they needed to make some life changes if they wanted to have a successful family, so he needed to make some sacrifices in regards to his acting career. He wanted to make sure that his daughter, Hannah Margaret, was able to receive plenty of his attention. “I quit Magnum to have a family. It took a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance,” Tom said. He really loved working on “Magnum P.I.,” but he needed to do what was best for his family at the time. He didn’t want to miss anything that happened in his daughter’s life, and the only way to make that happen was to quit working.
Once Tom finished up with “Magnum P.I,” the family moved to Ventura County in California. In hopes of focusing on the most important parts of life, Tom purchased a 65-acre ranch for his family to live on. The ranch was quiet and peaceful. Just like Tom was hoping for, the ranch was the polar opposite of everything that Hollywood was. It was exactly what Tom’s family needed. “We both thought it was the best environment for [Hannah] to grow up,” said Jillie. And thanks to their decision, Hannah was able to grow up around horses, and she actually became an extremely talented equestrian. As it turns out, Tom made the right decision to get out of the spotlight so he could concentrate on his family.
Looking back on his relationship with Jacqueline Ray, Tom knew what the limelight could do to a family, so he made sure not to make the same mistakes again. In fact, the love he shared with Jillie made him want to keep his life private, especially since his last marriage failed. Being at the ranch allowed the family to work through any issues they had in the privacy of their own home.
It can be difficult to be a part of a couple at times, especially when your neighbor just so happens to be the breathtaking Sophia Loren. But after a discussion, Tom and Jillie figured out how to handle their new neighbor. “If I was on my way to Home Depot and she was out on the driveway in her bathrobe and she said exactly these words: ‘Thomaso, would you like a cappuccino?’ I could go in,” Selleck said. Just in case the situation would arise, Jillie made this rule up for Tom. After all, who could deny Sophia Loren?
Tom’s acting career has provided him with the opportunity to play roles with different ethical codes. But in real life, Tom is a religious man who typically always makes the right decisions. “I try very hard to conduct myself in an ethical way because that’s important to my stability now,” he said. “We’re a culture that’s so centered on the individual. The culture says that basically nothing is more important than the way you feel.”
There may be plenty of Hollywood actors that can be considered “one hit wonders,” Tom is definitely not one of those people. Not only did Tom do 162 episodes of “Magnum P.I.,” but he also went on to do several other projects. Including, Monica’s boyfriend in the long-running hit TV show “Friends”. He’s also been featured in shows like “Blue Bloods,” “Las Vegas,” and “The Closer.”
Many of the roles that Tom has played are pretty similar to who he is in real life. In “Blue Bloods,” for example, Tom plays a Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a family man, which is exactly who he as a person. And when Tom played a veteran in “Magnum P.I.” he could really bring personality to the character because he had experienced the military first-hand.
Tom can also be found in the voting lines, as he’s labeled himself in the past as “a registered independent with a lot of libertarian leanings.” He’s also a proud member of the NRA, which has caused him to receive a lot of backlash from different TV hosts. “I’ve learned by hanging out in Hollywood, where I disagree politically with most people, that most people’s hearts are in the right place, and the only thing we have to argue about is the way to solve the problems,” he said about his views.
If you’re looking for answers about a person’s work ethic, then the best place to start is with the people who work with them. This is exactly why the public was eager to hear what Tom’s co-star, Larry Manetti, had to say about Tom…and they weren’t disappointed by his answers. Manetti said that even though the show took a physical and mental toll on everyone, Tom had an excellent work ethic. He also commended Tom on all the charities that Tom works with.
Besides spending time with his friends and family, Tom really enjoys a good hockey game. As he’s stated in plenty of interviews, there’s a large spot in his heart for the LA Kings hockey team. You can also see him front and center at the Staples Center watching his favorite players, like Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar.
But don’t think for a second that Tom just likes sitting on the sidelines. In fact, when Tom was working on the set of “Magnum P.I.” he started playing volleyball to blow off some steam. One of his teammates, Dennis Berg, had a bit to say about what it was like to play with Tom. “Tom was a great teammate, appreciative of being included with such a talented and experienced group, practicing and playing hard when his Magnum schedule permitted…He was very patient with all of us,” he said. Seems like Tom was a team player on and off the court!
One of Tom’s recent acting roles was in 2015, in the TV movie “Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise!” The made for TV drama was actually written by Tom and Michael Brandman. In between filming, Tom steps back to enjoy the little things, like growing avocados on his farm – which he’s been doing for over 30 years. He really enjoys being able to work outside, saying: “So I like to get outside and work on the farm, from fixing roads to clearing brush.”
And even though “Magnum P.I.” has returned, Tom didn’t want to return to work to do a film version of the iconic show. “I tell you what worries me – because I love Magnum – is they take these TV show titles, and they buy them and they spend $100 million on special effects, and then they make fun of them and trivialize it. Then they try and get the actor who used to be in it to do some ridiculous cameo. And I will not do that,” he said.
And what about Tom and Jillie? How are they doing? Well, it sure has come as a surprise to many people, but Tom and Jillie are definitely still together and happier than ever. “Jillie and I have a pretty good partnership. We don’t do anything or make any decisions without consulting each other. And if one of us makes a decision involving Hannah, the other parent completely supports that position, even if you disagree,” Tom explained.
After filming 162 episodes of filming “Magnum P.I.,” Tom took some time off to be with his wife. He’s always known that the two most important things in his life are his wife and his daughter. Tom explained, “I’ve found it very difficult to expose my private life and live with it. It’s important to nurture your marriage. I think wanting time away from work has been good for that.”
Lately, Tom has been busy working on the series “Blue Blood” in New York. The NYPD-inspired drama is now in its 9th season. Viewers don’t seem to get enough of Tom Selleck. But in an interview with CBS, Tom made some hints about the future of “Blue Blood”: “Right now, no one is under contract for another season.” Even though all of the cast members expressed that they would love to come back for more, no one knows for sure if that will happen. The episode that aired on November 16, “Stirring the Pot” had the most viewers and was the most-watched television show, so it looks like the future is pretty bright for “Blue Blood” and hopefully, we’ll be seeing much more of Tom and his fellow cast members.
