Lorenzo Lamas has played many roles throughout his career. He’s starred in two major television shows, “Falcon Crest” and “Renegade,” has been married five times and been the subject of many tabloid stories. In “Renegade at Heart,” the 56-year-old actor reveals what it’s like to grow up the son of Fernando Lamas and step-son of Esther Williams and the ups and downs of his often tumultuous life. Lamas spoke to FOX411 about his fascinating life.
FOX411: Why did you write this book now?
Lorenzo Lamas: I felt like I was old enough to have some perspective on my life. I’ve been asked to write a book for years but I never thought I was mature enough to be able to look back at my life with a real perspective on the decisions I’ve made and the choices I’ve made. It’s like my journal to the folks out there who have been curious about why I’ve done certain things, like why did I marry five people? How does a person substantiate that? It was a very cathartic experience for me.
FOX411: So why did you marry five times?
Lamas: The short hand is I was the kind of person who tended to rescue people and think that they could fix them. My therapist told me that that’s not my job. But I didn’t have the therapy until after my third wife. She was of great help, of course it didn’t help me with wife number four (former Playboy Playmate Shauna Sand).
FOX411: That marriage sounds like a mess.
Lamas: Oh my god it was such a mess. Again I wasn’t a fully matured man so you’re not going to make mature decisions if you’re not a mature human.
FOX411: You say that you were blinded by her looks.
Lamas: It was a very painful mistake, emotionally and financially. Wife number four destroyed me, absolutely, took me down to the bottom of the barrel because I had three kids with her. Three daughters that I absolutely adored and couldn’t stand the thought of leaving, it was a very challenging time.
FOX411: You write about your son having a one-night stand with your ex-wife. How is your relationship with him now?
Lamas: It’s pretty horrible. It’s not just because he had sex with my ex-wife. A relationship takes two people to make or break it. I wasn’t there for him as much as I’ve been for my teenage daughters because I was on set 16 hours a day when he was growing up. His mother moving him out of state made it even more difficult to maintain a healthy father-son relationship. We’ve never been able to recover. I love my son. He’s a great soul. He’s a sweet person but events that have happened to him in his life, some of his own making, as a parent you really can’t take full responsibility for the destruction that can happen to a child. They are able to make choices but I certainly bear some responsibility for the fact that we do not have a healthy relationship and it’s sad.
FOX411: You adored your father Fernando Lamas.
Lamas: I idolized my father especially as a young boy. He was bigger than life. He commanded the room. He’d done everything, seen everything, been with every woman. It’s pretty heady stuff to grow up with.
FOX411: You also discuss his flaws. He was homophobic and sexist.
Lamas: He was Latin. He was very judgmental. He thought a woman’s place was in the kitchen. He just happened to marry a woman who was a top ten box office star of the '50s and she retired to serve him!
FOX411: He made you sleep in the garage when you were a teenager because he wouldn’t let Esther’s kids stay over.
Lamas: He was many things but he was also fair so if he wasn’t going to allow another man’s children in his house then he couldn’t allow me in the house. So my roommate was a Rolls Royce. I had a key that let me in the backdoor where there was a guest bathroom. But I came from military school so living in a garage in Beverly Hills was plush to me. I had shared a urinal with 30 guys for the last four years. Looking back I know that’s not normal. I know that I would never do that to my kids. I run my three teenage daughters around like a chauffeur.
FOX41: Jane Wyman ripped into you when you came to the set of “Falcon Crest” coked up.
Lamas: Yeah she sure did. I was careless. I was never a drug addict or alcoholic but I partied with my crew. I never went to work high until that one particular instance where I thought I had wrapped for the day. It never happened again.
FOX411: Do you wish you’d had your wives sign prenups?
Lamas: I wish I’d done so many things differently. I just never asked anyone for a prenup because I figured if you’re asking it’s like you’re almost professing failure at the outset. I just never could. Yeah it was devastating. I’m OK. I’m in Beverly Hills. I’m working as a helicopter pilot, something I love to do. I got tired of waiting for the phone to ring to get me on another B-movie. I don’t care about that anymore. I’ve had a tremendous amount of success as an actor so I’ve kind of put that behind me. I don’t have an agent or manager. I’m really focusing on my new career as a commercial pilot and I’m enjoying it tremendously. I teach and I do helicopter tours here in L.A. and I’m slowly building up that career. I’m very motivated. I have no regrets.
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