Kelly LeBrock Finally Reveals Why She Left Hollywood Behind
Kelly LeBrock was a cultural icon of the 1980s, both as a model and actor. LeBrock started modeling in her native New York City at the age of 16 and just a couple of years later became one of Eileen Ford's most requested models, according to a 1989 Orange Coast magazine article. Everyone who owned a TV set recognized her face from the Pantene commercials that eternalized the catchphrase: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful," as Allure noted. At that point, LeBrock had already broken out into the film industry with the iconic "The Woman in Red" and "Weird Science." LeBrock's acting career started after Gene Wilder saw her Christian Dior campaign, as he was attracted to LeBrock's voluptuous lips — her trademark trait, Orange Coast detailed.
LeBrock was further propelled into fame after she got linked to martial-artist-turned-actor Steven Seagal in the mid-1980s. She had recently divorced her first husband, Victor Drai, and Seagal was still legally married to Miyako Fujitani when LeBrock got pregnant, People reported in 1990. By the time Annaliza was born in early 1987, Seagal had divorced his wife and married LeBrock that September, according to People. Husband and wife co-starred in the popular 1990 film "Hard to Kill," helping to consolidate their Hollywood status.
LeBrock and Seagal had two more children before divorcing in 1994, The New York Times reported. The end of LeBrock's marriage coincided with the considerable slowing down of her career, a decision she made for her and her children's sake.
Kelly LeBrock dislikes the Hollywood lifestyle
Kelly LeBrock struggled with the attention she was getting, particularly where it concerned her divorce from Steven Seagal, as she told Fox News on December 15. So she packed up her belongings and moved with her kids to the "wilderness." She said, "I lived with no television for 25 years. I did the best that I could as a single mom ... I could always go back to my career. I could never go back to my children."
Living in the city had never suited her, but her career required that lifestyle. After becoming a mother, she realized she was done with it. "I'm just not a Hollywood girl. Never have been," LeBrock explained. "I never really liked the attention. I wanted to have dirt in my nails and be in the outdoors."
Even though LeBrock waited to make the big move after her divorce, she'd talked about feeling out of place in Hollywood for years. "I'd been working since I was 16 ... I found I needed grounding, I needed to see what I was about," LeBrock told Orange Coast magazine, later referring to herself as a "country girl." LeBrock's love for nature and dislike of technology hasn't wavered either. "I don't have a computer. I have internet but it's bad service. And I like it that way," she told Fox News. Well, it sounds like LeBrock is doing just fine without Tinseltown.