These days, Donna Mills may not be a household name, especially among those who would rather watch TikTok than watch TV. To those of us who adored Knot’s Landing, though, she will always be one of the most compelling villains in television history.
Mills dropped off the radar for a long time in order to focus on being a parent. However, the tale of her decision to become a mother later in life is more thrilling than any onscreen role. And now, she’s on the cusp of taking the next step in this journey and becoming a grandmother.
How did Donna Mills decide to become a parent? What brought her back to Hollywood, and what is she most looking forward to? Keep reading to find out!
The role that made Donna Mills famous
Are you somebody who didn’t watch Donna Mills’ original rise to fame? Or maybe you just need a quick refresher? It all started in 1971, when she starred in the famous film Play Misty For Me.
That movie was the directorial debut of cowboy acting legend Clint Eastwood, and he went on to become one of Hollywood’s most reliable directors. It was also Mills’ acting debut, and it led to many other wonderful roles for her. For our money, though, none were quite as great as the role of Abby Fairgate on Knot’s Landing.
Fairgate was a killer role, and Mills continued acting in the show until its 1993 finale. Eventually, though, she wanted something no movie or TV show could ever give her. Namely, she wanted to become a parent!
Becoming a parent at 54
Many years after she became famous, Donna Mills decided to become a mother. She explained her reasoning in an interview with People: “I was very concentrated on my career, but at a certain point, I realized there was something missing–It was a child,” she said.
Deciding she had already waited long enough, Mills set her sights on her goal and made it happen. “I went after it. I adopted [Chloe] when she was four days old,” she said. The two have been an amazing mother/daughter combo ever since, and their happiness has helped Mills disprove all the haters who thought she was making a terrible decision.
Getting criticism over becoming a mom
In that same interview with People, Donna Mills opened up about how controversial her decision to become a mother at the age of 54 years old. Apparently, those in her orbit were very blunt in their criticisms, telling the acclaimed actor “You’re going to be so old [to] have a little toddler running around.”
However, despite all these warnings, Mills found that the actual experience of becoming a mother at 54 was far more positive than her critics claimed it would be. Mostly, this is due to the fact that she never felt (or acted) her age. “I never felt older than the other mothers who were probably in their 20s,” she said, and she most certainly doesn’t regret her decision to become a parent.
Stepping back from Hollywood to embrace parenthood
For the first couple of years after adopting her daughter, Donna Mills continued to act, finding it easy to take her little girl with her wherever she went. As little Chloe grew, though, Mills realized she was going to have to make a choice between focusing on her career or focusing on her child. And that choice was very easy for her to make.
Mills ended up taking an 18-year-old hiatus from Hollywood, and she told People exactly why that was. Once Chloe became old enough to attend school, Mills realized that she could no longer take on new roles. “I wasn’t going to go out of town for two months at a time. And I didn’t become a mother to give her to a nanny,” she said.
Donna Mills’ close bond with her daughter
The haters might have thought it was a terrible idea for Donna Mills to become a mother at 54, but it didn’t take long for her and her daughter Chloe to develop a close bond. The two eventually got matching tattoos, and Mills loves to talk up her daughter whenever possible, especially on social media.
A great example of this is the Instagram post that she made on Mother’s Day last year. “Being a mother gives you a depth of feeling you didn’t know existed until you hold that baby in your arms,” she wrote. “And now I feel it every time I see her, every time we hug and laugh and do silly stuff together.”
Now, incredibly, things have come full circle, and Mills’ daughter Chloe is pregnant with a baby boy. Mills is now set to become a grandmother at the age of 84, and she seems completely excited about the idea. After all, few things can make us feel as young as welcoming a new baby into the family!