Published in GRAND Magazine Issue 19 Nov/Dec 2007 pp 46-51
Born Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor on July 12, 1951, the actress who would be known as Cheryl Ladd was raised in Huron, South Dakota, dreaming of a career in show business. She spent her childhood focused on singing, dancing, acting-and moving on. “My mother says my bags were packed from the time I was 3,” says Cheryl. “She knew I was headed for either New York or Hollywood.” While in high school, Cheryl sang with a local group called The Music Shop, which brought her to Los Angeles upon graduation. The band eventually broke up, but Cheryl stayed in L.A. intent on pursuing her dream of becoming an actress.
In just a short time, she got her first professional break as the singing voice of “Melody” on the cartoon series Josie and the Pussycats. When Cheryl was cast in the role of “Kris Munroe” on Charlie’s Angels, it catapulted her into stardom. “The onslaught of attention and instant fame was pretty overwhelming,” says Cheryl, who spent four years on the show. While still on the series, she developed and starred in the ABC telefilm When She Was Bad, which deals with the harsh realities of child abuse. “At that time, no one was saying anything about this horrific epidemic going on in our country,” says Cheryl, an ambassador for Childhelp USA, one of the largest national, nonprofit organizations dedicated to research, prevention and treatment of child abuse.
“I wanted to bring this issue to the forefront of people’s minds.” Cheryl keeps herself busy developing new projects, including a recurring role on the TV series Las Vegas. Cheryl is a terrific golfer, and her 2005 book, Token Chick, describes her experiences as a leading celebrity golfer. She has also written a children’s book with her husband of more than 20 years, Brian Russell. The book, The Adventures of Little Nettie Windship, teaches children the value of good citizenship and championship. That children’s book is going to come in handy now. Cheryl just became a grandmother for the first time, as a stepgrandmother. Lindsay, who is Brian’s daughter from his previous marriage to singer/songwriter (nominated for Broadway’s The Color Purple) Brenda Russell, had a baby boy earlier this year. The baby boy is the apple of Cheryl’s eye, and she was thrilled to tell GRAND all about him.
I am a first-time grandmother, and it’s a little more complex than that because I have my daughter, Jordan, and my stepdaughter, Lindsay. My daughter Jordan was 5 1/2, almost 6, when we got married, and Lindsay was 4 1/2. It is Lindsay, my stepdaughter, who has had the baby. It’s my first grandchild, nevertheless,” says Cheryl in an exclusive interview with GRAND Magazine.
Cheryl remembers the chaotic day of the blessed event as if it were yesterday.
It was amazing. On the morning of Lindsay’s due date, I was working in Los Angeles. I don’t live in Los Angeles; I live in the Santa Barbara area. I was there working on Las Vegas. And my husband calls and says Lindsay is in labor and in the hospital. I am freaking out because I want to be at the hospital. And he was driving like a madman to the hospital in Los Angeles. So I keep telling everybody, “Oh, my daughter is in the hospital. She is having a baby, and we’ve got to hurry up!” I was pushing everyone like a maniac to get their scenes done. I said, “Come on, Jim [James Caan], we have to get this done. My daughter is having her baby. Come on, let’s go, let’s go!” So I finished the scene, and I got the call that she had the baby and everything was okay. She and the baby were doing brilliantly well. I was so relieved. They said Lindsay had had an 8 pound 9 ounce baby with no drugs of any kind. She did it all naturally. She had done all the classes, and she was just amazing. I am so proud of her.
When Cheryl met her grandson, it was love at first sight.
When I first laid eyes on the baby, I just wept; I absolutely fell apart. I just wept at this precious little thing. You could clearly see both the mommy and the daddy in the baby. I saw my stepdaughter Lindsay the day after she was born practically, and all the pictures we have of her remind me of that. As soon as I held Nehemiah in my arms, memories came flooding back to me of holding my daughter Jordan in my arms for the first time. It was so overwhelming. And it’s really funny, because immediately while I was holding him and standing up, the rocking began. You don’t even realize you’re doing it. You just immediately coo and rock. And of course everyone laughed at me because I didn’t realize I was doing it. It’s organic. It’s just so natural. You just can’t help it.
Cheryl says little Nehemiah has a great personality. She also admits she’s been called on from time to time for diaper duty, and that’s okay with her.
He’s only seven months old [at the time of the interview in August 2007], but he has this great belly laugh. He’s at this wonderful age where you can just crack him up, and he’ll howl with laughter at you. He’s got a ton of hair, and he’s absolutely gorgeous. His parents are wonderful with him. Lindsay is a wonderful mother. She sings to him, she stimulates him, and jokes around with him. I’m loving every minute of being a grandmother. And I’m proud to say that I was one of the first people to change his diaper. I get to do all the fun things. Now it seems like every time we’re in a restaurant together, he decides this is a perfect time to do his thing, and I of course volunteer to change him. Lindsay says, “Oh, I’m really sorry.” But I say, “You know babies; they’ll ruin your dinner any chance they get when they’re in diapers.” They get stimulated from the aroma of the foods or something. The way it works is that I grab him and spend half the time when we’re at dinner in the bathroom with him and his poopy pants, but I don’t mind it a bit.
