The 16-year-old girl who would become Hollywood’s ultimate fantasy woman was already trapped in a nightmare she didn’t recognize. Bo Derek, the ethereal beauty whose slow-motion run on a Mexican beach in the 1979 film “10” became one of cinema’s most iconic images, has finally broken her silence about the predatory relationship that launched her career and nearly destroyed her life. In a series of recent interviews that have sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, Derek revealed the suffocating truth about her marriage to director John Derek, a man 30 years her senior who controlled every aspect of her existence from the moment they met on a film set when she was barely old enough to drive.
The story begins in the sun-drenched haze of Long Beach, California, where Mary Kathleen Collins, as she was then known, spent her days surfing instead of attending school. Born on November 20, 1956, to a boat manufacturer father and a mother who worked as a makeup artist for the stars, young Bo saw her future in the simple life of a surf shop employee. But fate had other plans when her mother’s client, actress Ann-Margret, spotted something special in the teenager and introduced her to a talent agent.
That introduction led to an audition with director John Derek for his film “Once Upon A Love,” and the 16-year-old was soon on a plane to Greece, unaware that she was walking into a carefully laid trap.
If the image of a 16-year-old girl traveling to an exotic island with a 46-year-old filmmaker seems like a glaring red flag, that’s because it was. John Derek had already established a disturbing pattern of abandoning his wives for younger women. He had left his first wife for 19-year-old Ursula Andress, the future Bond girl, despite having no common language with her.
Now he was setting his sights on a teenager. The film itself was deeply troubling, a coming-of-age story about a young girl falling in love with her adopted brother, filled with nude shots of the underage Derek. While filming in Greece, with his wife Linda Evans actually present on location, John Derek began his predatory pursuit of his teenage star.
The financing for the film was equally scandalous. John Derek had convinced his then-wife Linda Evans, the future star of “Dynasty,” to pose nude for photographs, using the money from those images to fund the movie. When Evans realized what was happening between her husband and the teenager, she fled Greece, announcing the end of her marriage on Christmas Day.
Bo and John were now free to pursue their relationship, but the 30-year age gap wasn’t just creepy, it was illegal. Rather than return to the United States where John Derek could face charges for sleeping with a minor, the couple stayed in Europe, where their relationship didn’t break any official rules.
Bo Derek made the fateful decision to drop out of high school and live like an adult with her older boyfriend. She was young and in love, not thinking about her future, but someone back home was. John Derek’s agent wanted his client to have a chance at a real career and a real life, and he believed that couldn’t happen while she was under John’s control.
His plan was simple, have John Derek charged with sleeping with a minor when he returned to the US. When Bo and John caught wind of this plan, they decided to stay in Germany, where their goal was to edit “Once Upon A Love.” This worked until the funding ran dry, and the film lab, angry about the lack of payment, locked up the movie.
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 put Bo on an airplane to America while he took another plane to Mexico, entering the US by land without any problems.
The plan worked, and the two lovebirds were together again. Bo Derek was now 18 and ready for marriage. On June 10, 1976, the couple tied the knot, and Bo took her husband’s name, officially becoming Bo Derek.
Bo quickly discovered something odd about her new husband’s past wives. Ursula Andress and Linda Evans were both striking blondes, and John seemed to take immense pride in this, often forgetting to mention his first wife, the brunette Pati Behrs. Bo also had to adjust to being a stepmom to children who were actually older than their new stepmother.
Her 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,” a 1977 disaster that many saw as 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, John was making another movie, but this time he didn’t want Bo in it. This film was called “Love You,” 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 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 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’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 it turned out, Bo Derek could act well enough, and Edwards had found his Perfect Ten.
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, a scenario that sounded pretty familiar. But it wasn’t the story that drew Derek to the film, it was something completely different.
Bo Derek didn’t care much about the script, the director, or even her co-stars Dudley Moore and Julie Andrews. She 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, an intricate design that 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 vulture appropriating Black culture. But some women applauded her choice. One woman stopped her on the street and thanked her, saying 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, and a New York City Court ended up involving Derek in the whole mess, rejecting 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, “A Change of Seasons.” It had big potential as her co-stars were Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Hopkins. 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, and suddenly everything changed. “10” went on to wow audiences and even got Bo Derek some attention for her acting.
Back then, the Golden Globes handed over statues for New Star of the Year, and 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 and Carol and Ted and Alice.”
The timing couldn’t have been worse, as 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, but 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.
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 3 minutes of the racier material removed from the final cut. “Tarzan, the Ape Man” had been an arduous shoot, and 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’s 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. 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.” The film was a critical and box office disaster and received nine Golden Raspberry nominations. Derek won the award for the 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 Bo, 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.
She 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 away 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 5 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.
