Jaclyn Smith, 80, has revealed she has battled an "unusual" form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) since she was 12 years old. The "Charlie's Angels" alum shared details of her lifelong struggle in her newly released memoir, "I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie," published on September 8.
Smith explained that her OCD developed following the death of her uncle when she was a child. "It all revolved around loved ones and prayer and sacrifice and manifesting," she told People magazine. "It just eased my anxiety and my nerves on the people I love so much, and I didn’t want to lose them."
When her uncle died at age 54 from complications related to alcoholism, Smith began obsessively praying for the safety of her other relatives. The stress of this, she wrote in her memoir, manifested in physical symptoms, including a missed period. A doctor at the time told her she might have trouble conceiving due to hormonal imbalances.
"On a purely human level, it felt cruel to tell an anxious, grieving adolescent girl that she could be infertile," Smith wrote. "He was the doctor, so I believed him, and my anxiety doubled instantly."
Smith, who played Kelly Garrett in the iconic series, eventually abstained from alcohol herself. During her time as a psychology student in college, she began to understand her experiences more clearly. "It’s not fun being diagnosed (or self-diagnosing) with a psychiatric disorder, but at the same time I felt relieved," she wrote in the book. "There was a name for it, and I wasn’t alone."
Despite the earlier medical concerns, Smith did become a mother. She has two children, Gaston and Spencer-Margaret, with her third husband, cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond. She described motherhood as the "best part of my life."
In her memoir, Smith also detailed the end of her marriage to her second husband, Roger Davis. She alleged that Davis had an affair with their real estate agent. Smith recounted meeting Warren Beatty, who offered her a role in a new film, and shortly after, Davis appeared and told Beatty that Smith "only does commercials." Later, the real estate agent, Laura, confided in Smith, revealing that she and Davis had been having an affair.
"I couldn't imagine how two people I trusted could have betrayed me, and for so long," Smith wrote. "Laura was telling me to my face what she'd done, but I still couldn't believe it."
She recalled Laura telling her, "Remember the day you ran into Warren Beatty outside the apartment, and Roger suddenly appeared on the street out front? He'd been upstairs in the apartment having sex with me."
According to Smith, Davis denied the infidelity, claiming Laura was "just jealous" of her. Smith stated that this revelation was the point at which she knew their relationship was over. "When the paint starts to peel, get out, because it doesn't change," she told People.
Smith, who was married to Davis from 1968 to 1975, wrote that she initially lived in a state of "denial" to preserve the marriage. "Denial, I discovered, can be seductive," she wrote. "At that moment, blind belief was easier than truth."
She ultimately chose to give Davis the benefit of the doubt, though the couple divorced years later. Smith has been married to her current husband, Brad Allen, for over 28 years.
