Nowadays, Her Lifts Come From Within

At 40, Linda Evans was riding high as Krystle Carrington, the moral (and beautiful) center of nighttime soap opera “Dynasty.” She did an ad campaign for Clairol dubbed “40 Isn’t Fatal.”

Six years later, she was involved with a much younger musician, Yanni, who she said didn’t care what she looked like. But she cared, and felt her only option was to have a face lift. Today, she said, her biggest option would be--and should have been--self-acceptance.

Now, her big message to women is advice about taking less radical moves to cope with aging and building self-esteem. The star of “Dynasty” and “Big Valley” tours the country, speaking about menopause and damaged bladders and osteoporosis and other non-glamorous medical concerns women face as they age.

“I have found a peace in myself and a joy in myself,” said the still-radiant Evans at 56. And that self-love is something she tries to teach other women. This from a woman who said she had self-doubts, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt confident about my looks a day in my life.”

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Women have never lived at a better time, she says. They have more personal and financial freedoms than ever before. And medicine has more solutions to problems related to age. “We’ve learned a lot, we love better, we think better,” she says. “Why are we less?”

In a business known for abandoning its mature players, Evans never lied about her age. “My agent used to say to me, ‘Stop telling people how old you are.’ ”

Sitting in the Four Seasons Hotel tearoom recently, Evans gave a candid interview. Dressed simply in dove-gray pants and jacket, she talked about her life, which like those of many women, had for a long time been defined by what other people wanted for her. At 15, her family needed a provider after her father’s death.

“I was so shy as a kid they made me take drama.” She had accompanied a friend on a commercial audition and got the job instead. “I wasn’t trained.” She soon found herself starring with acting legend Barbara Stanwyck, completely unprepared to be a TV star.

Her first husband, photographer, director and promoter John Derek, expected the two of them to become big stars together. “He wanted us to work together, to not be working for someone else,” she said. Derek was so angry at her success without him, he refused to discuss the show at home. In fact, she tried to get out of her contract with “Big Valley” but wasn’t allowed to.

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After that, came divorce (having been famously dumped at 26 for the 16-year-old Bo Derek) and another marriage to real-estate magnate Stan Herman, which ended in divorce. All the while, Evans said, her only dream was to marry and have children.

Now age, along with “Dynasty” proceeds, have brought peace of mind and financial freedom. “The good news is I don’t have to work.” Nine years ago, she left sunny Southern California for the Northwest, where she can do her own grocery shopping without being readily recognized.

Today she is happy, single (she and Yanni parted in 1998) and, most important, confident.