The secret to 70s sex symbol's age-defying figure as she proves she can still drop jaws at 68 after rare red carpet appearance

Daily Mail​

26-05-2025

It's more than 40 years since Bo Derek became an instant sex symbol after bursting onto the big screen opposite Dudley Moore in comedy classic 10.
The now-famed image of the lithe actress, clad in a gold high cut swimsuit, her hair in beaded braids, running along the beach became many a teenage boy's pin-up of choice after the 1979 hit.
Now aged 68, it seems the Californian beauty has lost little of her youthful lustre - looking far younger than her 68 years on Wednesday.
Bo proved she still has an appearance most women would envy as she returned to the red carpet for a rare public appearance beside her husband John Corbett this week.
The actress exuded a youthful glow as she posed in a stylish monochrome trouser suit that accentuated her still willowy frame at a photo-call in New York for season three of the Sex And The City spin-off And Just Like That..., which stars Bo's partner.
Bo has long claimed that she shuns plastic surgery, because she is happy to age gracefully - and instead, her age-defying figure has been credited to a healthy diet and her active life on her ranch in California.
She previously admitted that she sometimes considers anti-ageing procedures if she sees photographs of herself looking 'scary' - but simply reminds herself that Botox and plastic surgery can often change a person's facial expression for the worse.
The actress said: 'When you look at women who have had plastic surgery, they have lost something - usually an expression, something unique to their faces.
'They start to look the same. I've always admired the women who didn't do it, so I have to keep reminding myself I'm one of them and not the other.
'When I look at some photographs of myself, I think, "Oh, I look alright." But, in others, I scare myself; I wish I had my old skin,' admitted the Golden Globe nominee in 2009.
In a magazine interview in 2008, she added: 'I think we all have this image that we're going to be the hold-out and show what [someone in their 50's] really looks like, but I could wake up tomorrow and say, "Okay, enough of this."
'Right now, I look at my lines and I think, 'Well, shoot! They're marks of a lot of fun.'
More recently, a source told Closer that 'she's still quite the beauty and dropping jaws everywhere she goes.'
The insider added: 'She's among a rare breed who refuses to succumb to cosmetic nip/tucks, and she gets very prickly at even the suggestion she's had anything "done".
'She just takes good care of herself, eats a mostly vegetarian diet, limits carbs, and seems happy in her marriage to John [Corbett], which accounts for a lot.
'She's a homebody who takes care of her ranch and cleans the house herself, tends to her horses and pets. That's her exercise. She also stays toned by riding her horses and swimming. Bo's the envy of every actress in Hollywood.'
Bo proved she still has an appearance most women would envy as she returned to the red carpet for a rare public appearance beside her husband John Corbett (pictured right) this week
But surprisingly, the ageing process hasn't been easy for the classic beauty. The actress, originally named Mary Cathleen Collins, talked to CBS in May 2015 about growing older.
'Aging is really hard, and it's tough,' she said. 'Bette Davis was right; it's not for sissies, it really isn't.'
'And there is a certain expectation. I get credit on one hand for not having had a facelift and then on the other hand it's, "Oh my God, why doesn't she do something?" So you're just torn. I just have to keep busy, have other interests, and try not to think about it.'
The former model's career in acting started when she auditioned for the legendary director, John Derek.
The director, who was 30 years her senior was so taken with the beautiful blonde that he divorced his wife, Dynasty star Linda Evans, to start an affair with her.
The controversial couple had to move to Germany for two years to avoid John being charged with statutory rape as Bo was only sixteen at the time. They moved back to the US shortly after her eighteenth birthday and married soon after.
Despite the huge disparity in years and Bo's young age, they remained married right up until John's death from cardiovascular disease in 1998.
John was a dashing romantic whom she 'adored until he drew his last breath,' she told the Mail On Sunday in an interview shortly after his death. 'Most people fall in love, but they don't have love in return, and I had it for 25 years.'
Bo (pictured left, in 2020, and right, in 2024) has long claimed that she shuns plastic surgery, because she is happy to age gracefully - and instead, her age-defying figure has been credited to a healthy diet and her active life on her ranch in California
Bo struggled to get over the loss of her husband and threw herself into work and indulged her love of horses.
She vowed off dating again and remained single for four years before meeting her second husband, My Greek Fat Wedding and Sex and the City actor, John Corbett.
The pair - who live on a 110-acre ranch in California's Santa Ynez Valley - began dating in 2002 after meeting on a blind date. They decided to get married in December 2020 after their romantic relationship of 18 years.
Before she met her current beau, Bo thought she would never find love again. However she explained that when she met Corbett, she felt 'just an attraction, a comfort. He makes me laugh all the time. He's full of life, full of joy,' via Fox News.
Although John Derek directed several of her films - including Tarzan, The Ape Man and Bolero - it was Blake Edwards who directed 10, which made her a star.
Amid a cast that included Edwards' wife Julie Andrews as well as Dudley Moore, Bo made a splash while strutting her stuff across the beach in a swimsuit.
'It was one of those moments where a fairy godmother comes in, taps you on the forehead with her magic wand and changes everything,' Bo reflected in 2020.
'People say I'm an icon, whatever that means. I wouldn't call myself that. I don't take it personally. But I played a part that certainly became iconic for sure.'
Bo was wed to actor and director John Derek; seen in 1983. The couple tied the knot in 1976, marking Derek's fourth marriage, and the lovebirds remained wed until his death in 1998
John Derek was 30 years Bo's senior and became smitten with her when she was 16 years old acting in his film Fantasies in Greece.
Although their movies together were not taken seriously, the couple lived in luxury at a ranch until his death at the age of 71.
'I've always been a fairly optimistic person, but it was a huge change, an enormous loss. The air just gets sucked out of the room when you lose your partner. So I wallowed in that for a while,' Bo told Fox News.
'I didn't expect to end up with anyone again. Some women want to pair up again right away. I didn't. I remember consciously fashioning myself after some girlfriends that I have [who] are single and led very full, fantastic lives with friends and family and projects that they do. And that gave them happiness.'
Corbett told Today a few years ago that he met Bo after his agent friend Norby Walters fixed them up as Oscar party dates.
The couple secretly tied the knot in 2020 after 18 years of dating. They kept the news quiet until the following year, when John let slip in an interview on The Talk: 'Around Christmas time, we got married. Bo and I got married.
'We got married, and this is probably the first time – we're pretty private people, we didn't make an announcement...
'All our friends and family knew. But this is the first time either one of us have said something publicly about it, because really we haven't had the opportunity.
'After 20 years we decided to get married. We didn't want 2020 to be that thing that everyone looks back at and hated… let's get one nice thing out of it'.