50 years after Charlie’s Angels premiered, Kate Jackson is sharing how the fame and pressure of the show impacted her.
The beloved series premiered on September 22, 1976, and initially starred Kate as Sabrina Duncan, Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett, and Farrah Fawcett as Jill Munroe. Following the late Farrah’s departure after season one, she was replaced by Cheryl Ladd, who played her on-screen sister Kris Munroe.
While the show was groundbreaking, it had long-lasting impacts none of the women could foresee.
“We lost our privacy, totally,” Kate told People at the 50th anniversary celebration of Charlie’s Angels. “We just absolutely totally lost every bit of privacy. And then, to make it worse, those horrible tabloids.”
The 77-year-old actress continued: “I don’t understand social media. I mean, I don’t get it. All I want is a little privacy. And I don’t understand why people are so fond of taking their picture and telling the world where they are at this very moment, doing this thing. I don’t get it.”
Of the 50 year anniversary of the show, Kate explained to Page Six: “[I] never dreamed from day one, 50 years later, anyone would be interested at all or even had seen it,” adding: “But the fact is it’s never gone off the air, ever. It’s always been on television.”
© Getty ImagesKate’s life after Charlie’s Angels
Charlie’s Angels made Kate a superstar. After leaving the show at the end of the third season, Kate starred alongside Harry Hamlin in Making Love, a groundbreaking film covering homosexuality.
In 1983, she appeared in the drama television series Scarecrow and Mrs. King opposite Bruce Boxleitner for four seasons. That role was Kate’s last true starring role in a hit series. She stepped away from Hollywood because she didn’t want to “sacrifice” her life for a TV show.
Of her leaving Charlie’s Angels, she told Closer Magazine: “I finally had to say, ‘Wait a minute, there’s my life, and there’s the show, and one is killing the other, so something has to go. I sure as hell wasn’t about to sacrifice my life for a television show.”
© Getty ImagesWhy Kate left Hollywood
The actress left the industry for more reasons than one. “I’d had it with Hollywood’s long hours, the politics, the backstabbing and the gossip,” Kate told the publication. “It was not a great town for having your feet on the ground and living a normal life.”
She went on: “My life was all geared to work, even though those people around the country know me and like me, they aren’t in my living room at the end of the day when I’m lonely and hassled.”
© InstagramKate’s health journey
In 1987, while filming Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Kate found a small malignant tumor in her breast. She checked into a hospital under an alias to have a lumpectomy. Two years later in 1989, Kate was diagnosed with residual breast cancer and had a partial mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
Several years later in 1995, Kate underwent open-heart surgery to correct an undetected birth defect. But that same year, she adopted a son and she has dedicated her life to him ever since.
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