Friends vet Tom Selleck, 75, reveals why he quit his 80s show Magnum PI and how his California retreat calms him down: ‘My ranch keep me sane’
He has had a wonderful career that includes the starring role on Magnum PI, a fun part as Monica’s beau on Friends and his most recent show Blue Bloods, which is in its 10th season.
And his personal life is pretty impressive too – he is still married to his wife of over 30 years Jillie and he is close to his two kids.
Now 75-year-old Tom Selleck has told People that it has helped him greatly to have a California ranch to escape to when the pressure gets too hot.
‘My relationships and my ranch keep me sane,’ said Selleck.
The ranch used to be an avocado farm but a drought ended that. Now he likes to walk among the over 1,500 native trees.
‘I do grunt work and I make the rounds. I like watching things grow. It’s a retreat,’ he said of the sprawling Spanish style home that has a red tiled roof.
He purchased the ranch in 1988 after he quit Magnum P.I. – fame got to be too much for him he said and he needed a time out.
‘I knew intellectually what it would mean in terms of being a public person, but until you’ve lived it, there’s no way to understand it,’ said the star.
‘I had a feeling of, “I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”‘
And Tom explained why he left the smash hit Magnum PI in 1988 after eight years on the air.
He played the stud of Hawaii that drove a red Ferrari and did private investigative work.
‘I quit Magnum, not because I didn’t like it or I was tired of it,’ he explained. ‘I was tired from it. And I wanted a three-dimensional life because I didn’t have one.’
He didn’t like what he was being offered so he took time off.
‘I put up with the articles that said he’s disappeared, he’s done. And you do get done, I’m well aware of that. It was a big lull, but it put a lot of things in perspective,’ he noted.
Then came the part on Friends in the 1990s; he appeared as the beau of Monica, played by Courteney Cox.
He was also on The Closer then won the role of police commissioner Frank Reagan on Blue Bloods.
He has been wed to Jillie for 33 years and he is father to Hannah, 31, and Kevin, 54, whom he had with his first wife Jacqueline Ray.
‘I’m proud of my work, I still love what I do, and I have my family,’ said Selleck. ‘I’ve been enormously fortunate.’
‘I’m a fairly private person,’ the actor added. ‘And I’ve always treasured the balance between work and time with my family. It’s always about them.’
Blue Bloods airs Fridays 10 p.m. ET on CBS.