Hollywood’s Perfect 10 Had A Nightmare Life

Bo Derek was just 16 when she fell in love with her director, John Derek, who left his wife for her and helped her change from an aimless surfer girl to a Hollywood sensation. They stayed together until John’s death, but Bo recently revealed the truth about what really happened on that set. The full story is coming up.

Bo Derek was born Mary Kathleen Collins on November 20th, 1956, in Long Beach, California. Her father was a boat manufacturer, and her mother was a makeup artist for the stars. Bo Derek spent many of her days at the beach instead of attending school. She wanted to surf all day, and the only future she saw for herself was working in a surf shop. But fate had a different plan for Bo. Her mother’s client, Ann-Margret, saw something in little Mary Collins. Ann-Margret introduced her to a talent agent who sent Bo out on her first audition with director John Derek for his film “Once Upon a Love.”

Sixteen-year-old Bo landed the role and was soon off to Greece, where the film was going to be shot. If you think a 16-year-old girl going off to an exotic island with a 46-year-old filmmaker is a red flag, you’re absolutely right, and John Derek didn’t exactly inspire trust. For one, there was the scandalous way he was financing the film. You see, he had convinced his beautiful wife, “Dynasty”‘s Linda Evans, to pose nude for some photos. John used the money from these photos for the film. What was even more troubling was the subject matter of the film. “Once Upon a Love” is a coming-of-age story about a young girl who falls in love with her own adopted brother. The film was full of shots of nude Derek, even though she was just a teenager at the time.

While filming “Once Upon a Love,” the 46-year-old director found himself falling for his teenage star, even though his wife was actually in Greece with him. Bo was young and easily impressed, and she returned Derek’s affection. And this was hardly John Derek’s first scandalous onset romance. Back when John Derek had been with his first wife, he met 19-year-old Ursula Andress. Even though they had no common language, John fell in love and abandoned his wife and family to get together with the future Bond girl. It seemed that John had a pattern, but Bo was just a teenager—not a demographic known for being overly careful.

In fact, Bo and John weren’t careful at all, and soon it became clear to Linda Evans what was happening. Evans wisely left Greece, and on Christmas Day, she announced the end of her marriage. Now Bo and John were free to pursue their relationship. Of course, there was still the 30-year age gap to worry about. Not only was the relationship between Bo and John creepy, it was actually against the law. So instead of returning to the States, they stayed in Europe where their relationship wasn’t breaking any official rules. Bo decided that living with her older boyfriend in Europe was all the education she needed. She dropped out of high school and started living like an adult. She was young and in love and not thinking too much about her future, but someone back home was.

Derek’s agent wanted his client to have a chance at a career and a life, and he thought this couldn’t happen while she was with John. His plan was a simple one: have John Derek charged with sleeping with a minor when he returned to the US. Bo and John got wind of this plan and decided to stay in Germany. While there, their goal was to edit “Once Upon a Love.” This worked for a while until the funding for the film ran dry, and then things got worse. The film lab in Germany, angry about the lack of payment, took the movie and locked it up. It was a heartbreaking twist considering all the work they’d put into the film.

But now they had a chance for a normal life. Since Derek had finally turned 18, the couple was nervous about returning to America, so they hatched a plan. John Derek was afraid that there would be authorities waiting for him at the airport back home. To avoid this, he put Bo on an airplane to America, and he got on another one headed somewhere else. John Derek explained it took him to Mexico, and he had no problems entering the US by land. The plan worked, and the two lovebirds were together again. Bo Derek was now 18 and ready for marriage. On June 10th, 1976, the couple tied the knot. Bo took her husband’s name and officially became Bo Derek.

Bo quickly discovered that there was something odd about her new husband. John’s past wives, Ursula Andress and Linda Evans, were both striking blondes, and he seemed to take an immense amount of pride in this. He was so proud that he often forgot to mention his first wife, the brunette Pati Behrs. Bo also had to adjust to the idea of being a stepmom. John’s children were actually both older than their new stepmom.

Bo Derek’s first acting experience was with her now-husband, but that film was locked up in Germany, so Derek looked for another part. Her first released film ended up being Michael Anderson’s “Orca.” While Anderson was an Academy Award-winning director, his 1977 film “Orca” was a complete disaster. Many easily saw “Orca” for what it was: a mediocre film riding on the coattails of the very popular “Jaws.” There were some respected actors on board, Richard Harris and Charlotte Rampling, but even they couldn’t elevate the material. Derek had a small part that culminated in the whale biting off her leg. “Orca” did okay at the box office, but the critics panned it.

Meanwhile, Derek’s husband John was making another movie, but this time he didn’t want Bo in it. This film was called “Love You.” It was one of those films you used to rent from the little room at the back of the video store. Bo wasn’t squeamish, though. She was on board as a producer on this film and went on set daily to help in any way she could. It looked like Derek’s career would quietly disappear, and then something astonishing happened.

In 1979, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” director Blake Edwards was pitching his idea for a film called “10.” The entire premise of the film depended on finding a woman so beautiful that a man would do anything to have her. Edwards considered Melanie Griffith, Heather Thomas, and Tanya Roberts for the role, but none of them had what he wanted. That’s when Bo Derek walked in. The first words that Derek said to Edwards were, “I’m sorry about wasting your time,” but Edwards and his co-producer were so excited about Bo Derek’s amazing looks that they were praying she could act even just a little. The tension was running high at her audition as Derek opened her mouth and read her first lines as Jenny Hanley. As it turned out, Bo Derek could act well enough, and Edwards had found his perfect 10.

In fact, Derek was uniquely prepared for the role. In the film, her character has a romance with a guy who is 20 years older than her. Well, that sounds pretty familiar. But it wasn’t the story that drew Derek to the film; it was something completely different. It seemed that Bo Derek didn’t care much about the script, the director, or even her co-stars Dudley Moore and Julie Andrews. Derek stayed true to her beach bum roots and said she was more excited that they were filming in Mexico than anything else. She thought shooting “10” would be a fun time at the beach and didn’t have high expectations about the result.

To make Bo Derek look really unique in “10,” the hair and makeup department made a bold choice: they put Derek in cornrows. This intricate design apparently took the work of two women and 10 hours to create. Derek had no idea this hairstyle would soon become her signature look. Years later, Derek would receive a lot of criticism for the cornrows, with some claiming she was a culture vulture, but some women applauded her choice. One woman stopped her on the street and thanked her. She said that because of Derek, her boss was more lenient about the hairstyle. Renee Rogers, an American Airlines employee, was told that the hairstyle was forbidden as it was seen as unprofessional. Renee sued the airline for not letting her express her culture. A New York City court ended up involving Derek in the whole mess and rejected the case since Bo Derek had worn the same style in “10.”

“10” was not even in theaters yet when Derek started working on her next film. This was “A Change of Seasons,” and it had big potential as her co-stars were Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Hopkins. While there was some trouble on the set—they replaced the director and the two leads did not get along—Derek quietly did her job to the best of her ability. “A Change of Seasons” wasn’t quite finished when “10” hit theaters. Suddenly, everything changed. “10” went on to wow audiences, and it even got Bo Derek some attention for her acting.

Back then, the Golden Globes handed over statues for New Star of the Year. Past recipients included Mia Farrow, Diana Ross, and John Derek’s ex-wife Ursula Andress. In 1979, Derek received a nomination for her work in “10,” but the competition was stacked. In the end, she lost out to Bette Midler for “The Rose.” Losing didn’t matter, as audiences were going crazy for Derek.

Suddenly, the producers of “A Change of Seasons” realized they had a huge star on their hands, and of course, they wanted to exploit that. They had already finished filming the movie but decided to get Derek and Hopkins back on set and throw them both in a hot tub for good measure. Sadly, this steamy scene could not save “A Change of Seasons.” Critics didn’t like the film at all. Just like “Orca” seemed to be a ripoff of “Jaws,” they saw this film as a pale copy of the more popular “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.” And the timing couldn’t have been worse. This was also the year that the people of the Golden Raspberry began handing out awards for the worst in film. “A Change of Seasons” received three nominations, but Derek herself managed to elude the humiliating nod.

Derek’s first film, “Once Upon a Love,” was still locked up in a safe in Germany. But now that Derek had a huge fan following, the original producer of the film paid to get it out. There was just one problem: Bo and John didn’t want it to come out. They tried but could not stop the producer from releasing the film. It came out under the racy title “Fantasies,” and it certainly was an embarrassment.

The Dereks had to act fast to revive their careers. Sadly, what they did next was no help at all. John Derek needed to distance his wife from the embarrassment of “Fantasies,” and for some reason, he thought the best way to showcase his wife’s talents would be to put her in a Tarzan movie. The thing was, John Derek wanted a starring role for Bo, so he changed the story to be more about the daughter of the man who discovers Tarzan. The result was “Tarzan, the Ape Man,” and it very quickly turned into a heap of trouble. Bizarre stories began to come out about the set. Some claimed that the animals used in the film seemed to be in love with Bo Derek. There were reports that CJ the orangutan fell in love with her, and so did an African lion named Neil. The story went that Neil got loose from his pen and rushed in to protect Derek from the man playing Tarzan—a truly terrifying tale. Maybe Bo did need protection, but not from her co-star.

Like most of John Derek’s movies, “Tarzan, the Ape Man” was going to be racy. Bo is often seen without clothes, and there was a very problematic scene involving Bo and a chimpanzee. When the owners of the original Tarzan story heard about what was going on on set, they had something to say about it. They wanted the production halted, and they also did not want anyone to see “Tarzan, the Ape Man.” While the estate of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs could not stop the film, they did get three minutes of the racy material removed from the final cut.

“Tarzan, the Ape Man” had been an arduous shoot. It was now time for audiences and critics to get a look at the film. Critics hated “Tarzan, the Ape Man,” and some went as far as to put it on the list of worst movies ever made. One critic said it was directed without a shred of talent by John Derek. Bo Derek fans, on the other hand, went to see the film in droves. Its opening weekend brought in $6 million and the top spot that weekend. While Bo narrowly avoided a Golden Raspberry Award for “A Change of Seasons,” she didn’t escape their wrath this time. “Tarzan, the Ape Man” received six Golden Raspberry nominations, including Worst Picture, Director, Actor, New Star, and Screenplay. But it was only Bo Derek who won the Worst Actress award.

Sadly, Bo did not learn her lesson. She continued to collaborate with her director husband on her next picture. In “10,” playing in the background of her love scenes was a song called “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel. Bo and John decided to capitalize on this association by putting Derek in a film called “Bolero.” The title officially didn’t come from the song, although I’m sure Bo and John Derek hoped audiences would make the connection. The title seems to come from the name Bo and the fact that Derek’s character wears a bolero-style hat in the film—not quite a premise that stands on its own.

Bo’s husband was carrying on his legacy as an enormous creep. John Derek hired Olivia d’Abo, who was just 14 at the time, to co-star in “Bolero.” John had met her when she was 13, made sure she was okay with acting in the nude, and then hired her on the spot. As far as we know, Derek’s creepy husband did not start a relationship with d’Abo, but “Bolero” ended up with other problems. You see, the film was so racy that the Dereks had to deal with the censors. In the end, they released the film unrated, as it was even too provocative for an R rating. That’s when rumors started that the bedroom scenes in the film were the real thing.

They say all press is good press, but not in the case of “Bolero,” apparently. The film was a critical and box office disaster and received nine Golden Raspberry nominations. Derek won the award for Worst Actress. She also took home a trophy for Worst Actress of the Decade for both “Bolero” and “Tarzan, the Ape Man.” To top it off, the film also tanked at the box office. It seemed that every film that Derek made with her husband was a disaster. It made fans wonder what her career could have been if she chose to work with other, more talented directors. Bo turned down various roles, including “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” and a role in a Bond film, “A View to a Kill.” She also said no to the 1976 remake of “King Kong,” the film that launched Jessica Lange’s career.

Not only did John Derek possibly ruin Bo’s career, he also caused her mental trauma. Remember, John Derek heartlessly dumped his wife Linda Evans to be with Derek. But recently, Bo Derek revealed what she felt on her first film set. She said that she felt immense guilt for what happened to Evans, whom she called a beautiful human. Linda Evans did not seem to hold a grudge against Bo Derek and knew who to blame for what happened to her: her ex-husband John.

But was John Derek all bad? Not according to Bo. Derek says she was lucky she didn’t have to face any creepy producers like so many other actresses, as most of them were afraid of her husband, who had a reputation for being quite physically domineering.

In 1998, John Derek, the man Bo had been with since she was 16, passed due to heart failure. Their marriage had lasted an astonishing 22 years, and she had no intention of finding a replacement. She was ready to live out her life as a single woman, and then one phone call changed everything forever. In 2002, Derek got set up on a blind date. A mutual friend set her up with “Sex and the City” hunk John Corbett, who needed a date for the Academy Awards. When Derek met Corbett, who was five years her junior, sparks flew. After a lengthy period of dating, the two tied the knot in 2020. They now live together on a ranch with five horses and three German Shepherds. In the evenings, they mostly watch movies together, but not Bo’s movies. She does, however, make an exception for “10.” She can bear to watch her career-defining film because, as she puts it, she’s hardly in the movie.