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Bo Derek has finally revealed why she decided to walk away from Hollywood despite reaching blockbuster fame.
Derek was a guest on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast and shared the real reason why she left the industry behind after rising to international fame in the late 70s thank to the movie, “10.”
Maher thanked Derek for being a guest on his show, since she doesn’t normally put herself back into the limelight. “I’m not promoting anything. I’m loving my life. I don’t need to go back to work,” Derek said.
A side-by-side image of Bo Derek in 1990 and 2026. (Getty Images)
“It’s very strange. People don’t understand it,” Derek began, referring to her decision to walk away from fame. “You know that expression, they would kill to do it, to be famous, to be in movies and not for some of us.”
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“I’m not promoting anything. I’m loving my life. I don’t need to go back to work.”
She continued, “I love retirement. I am so happy in retirement.”
Derek told Maher that she lives just north of Santa Barbra and has been there since 1981.
Actress Bo Derek, with her hair in cornrows, walks along the beach in swimwear as Samantha Taylor in the 1979 movie “10,” directed by Blake Edwards. (Bettmann Archive)
Elsewhere on the podcast, Maher talked about how Derek was the most beautiful girl in the world for a decade, claiming it must have been gratifying while also being a burden.
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“It was none of those things,” Derek replied. “Like I say, it was just it was just a whirlwind because I had no aspirations to be in films. I had when I did ’10,’ it was just a fluke that I got the part and I had no agent, no manager, no nothing, no fantasies about being in the movies.”
Bo Derek in July 1981. (Getty Images)
Derek went on to explain that she felt “uncomfortable” seeing her face plastered across magazines when she walked down the street.
“I was just always uncomfortable with my image, being all over magazines when I walked down the street. And I always felt kind of fake and an impostor at the same time ‘cuz I didn’t work as an actress,” she continued. “Or drive a limo or whatever everybody else did to be in movies.”
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“You made the right choice there. By the way, you are not missing anything,” Maher said. “I’m not missing anything. I don’t miss it,” Derek replied.
Bo Derek in 2000. (Getty Images)
Derek was known for her signature braided hairstyle in the “10” and became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars of the late 1970s and 1980s. Beyond acting, Derek is also an advocate for animal welfare and has been involved in various charitable and conservation efforts.
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