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I HATED NUDE PICS OF ME AT 23 BUT 40 YEARS ON I'M SO MUCH HAPPIER WITH MY FIGURE
May 21 2006
EXCLUSIVE Dynasty's Linda, 63, on surgery, soaps & shoulder pads
By Deborah Sherwood Senior Writer, Sunday Mirror
IT'S been more than 20 years since she last graced our TV screens - but time has been more than kind to Dynasty star Linda Evans.
Astonishingly, she hardly differs in pictures taken during her 80s heyday and those from her 2006 reunion with the hit soap's co-stars.
At 63, her face is barely betrayed by lines, her lips are voluptuously plump and she is a trim size 10.
Linda is currently in Britain to present the Best Soap gong at the TV awards, which were held last night.
Though old enough to be a grandmother, she looks as good today as she did in the TV series about sex, superbitches and shoulder-pads that made her a household name.
In fact, the super-svelte ninestone actress is far happier now than when her then-husband released nude pictures of her at the age of 23.
But Linda readily confesses she has had some help along the way...
"I admit I had plastic surgery," she says. "I can't say I haven't had it and I am the only woman not affected by gravity! I've also had Botox that is supposed to get rid of lines. It stays for a few months, then goes, so you have to have it done again."
Yet despite the cosmetic help, the beauty she radiates is not from a surgeon's knife - but contentment that comes with maturity. "There is a freedom I have at 63 that I never had before," she says. "When I was in Dynasty the whole world thought I was beautiful, but I wasn't happy.
"A magazine said I was one of 10 most beautiful women in the world, but I never felt I was. Take Princess Diana - she was absolutely stunning, but was not confident with herself."
Linda appreciates how Diana must have felt. She was just a young actress when her first husband John Derek sold the nude pictures of her - and 40 years on it still rankles. "My first husband shot me in the nude," she says. "They were for the two of us, but he released them. He said we needed the money. I was only 23."
To her embarrassment, years later - at the height of her fame as Krystle Carrington - the pictures were re-released. It was part of the price Linda had to pay until Dynasty ended in 1989 and she was able to return to a more normal life. "After Dynasty I didn't want to care about the way I looked," she says. "For nine years I had been very busy, weight-training and getting up at 4.30am for work.
"Once it was over, I gained 25lbs in two years - and it was fun. I just ate and drank everything I wasn't supposed to!"
However, when it came to losing weight she admits she didn't have a clue.
But after several failed attempts, she turned to aerobics. Now, to maintain her new figure she works out almost daily on a computerised bicycle, a treadmill and walks in the countryside near her home in Seattle, Washington State.
"I do aerobics five or six times a week and I read food and wine magazines at the same time!
"I have a gym at my house and do weight-training with a friend."
One of the friendships Linda built up during her time in Dynasty was with equally glamorous British co-star Joan Collins.
While Krystle was the elegant, kind, blonde wife of Blake (actor John Forsythe), her nemesis was the bitchy Alexis, played by Joan, now 72.
They often locked shoulder pads in the soap, but did they really hate each other on the show?
"Oh no," laughs Linda. "We never really fought on Dynasty - much to everyone's dismay. She is a fabulous woman, never stops working - and she looks beautiful."
The two actresses and friends will soon be reunited on stage, touring the States in a play called Legends about two divas who can't stand each other.
"My character is Krystle with more ego, Joan's is Alexis with more heart," she explains. "We play two rival stars who can't stand each other. I even have a line in it where I say, 'I won't work on those series like Dynasty'. It will be hilarious." Joan has found love with fifth husband Percy Gibson, 30 years her junior - "He's devoted to her," confides Linda.
But Linda is still looking for love.
After two divorces and one broken nine-year romance with Greek musician Yanni, she has been single for eight years.
"I made a choice to be happy and my life turned around," she said. "There has to be mad, passionate love, I have not found that since Yanni.
"I have had dates. They have been dark-haired men, either younger or older than me. But I am not bothered about marrying again."
As for her appearance at last night's Soap Awards, Linda says: "EastEnders and Coronation Street have been on for so long because there is something about them that people love.
"I know what it feels like to do a show that people love. But I don't think there is a show now like Dynasty.
"People think it is Desperate Housewives because there are women of different ages, but I don't think they have done a Krystle or an Alexis like we did."
For last night's awards ceremony, Linda wore a fabulous black lace number, pictured left, by Dynasty designer Nolan Miller.
He was the brains behind the over-the-top, shoulder-padded power suits that were copied by millions of women during the 80s.
Thinking back to them, Linda laughs: "I have so many in storage - just think of all those shoulder pads going to waste!"
d.sherwood@mgn.co.uk
