janine turner - DORway

ealmoms.
janine turner
reinventing the
girl next door
Photo by Larry Travis
for five years running (1990-1995),
Janine Turner’s girl-next door
appeal charmed Americans in
CBS’ prime time show, Northern Exposure.
But as the Nation fell in love with her role as
Maggie O’Connell, Turner was falling head
over heels with another role entirely: that of
mom. And it’s easy to see why upon meeting
12-year-old Juliette, whose expressive eyes,
joie de vivre and smiles rival mom’s.
Turner, a self-proclaimed “Fort Worth
girl,” strides into Starbucks, wearing a longflowing
dress and a denim jacket, looking for
all-the-world like a Hollywood star. But it’s
clear as she orders her venti cold milk (two
clumps of chocolate, nonfat milk with ice—
no coffee these days), the employees all know
her. She chats effortlessly with them, then
bellies up to the table to show me the goodies
she brought.
Turner’s down-home beauty and practicality
shine through. Case in point: As
she pulls out a book she wrote (Holding
Her Head High: 12 Single Mothers Who
Championed Their Children and Changed
History), she taps her nail on one of the
book’s subjects. Perfectly manicured sans
polish. That’s Turner in a nutshell: Perfectly
manicured, without extra layers.
It takes just minutes of shared conversation
to realize she’s impassioned about everything
that matters to her—primarily, her
daughter. You can see the sparkle in her grey
eyes when mentions Juliette. She also speaks
lovingly about her parents (she moved back
to be near them), and as we’re waiting for
her daughter to finish dance lessons, Turner
expounds on her early life in Texas. “It was
the wild prairie,” she describes. The freeway
wasn’t there, nothing was there.”
words tanya anne crosby
Discovered by Kim Dawson Agency at
the age of 3, by the age of 12, Turner was
dancing for the Fort Worth Ballet. At 14, she
wowed audiences in Charlotte’s Web at Fort
Worth’s Casa Mañana. “I fell in love with
musicals and acting,” she says, and suddenly
exclaims, “You know, my mother used to
bring me here to dance—and they’re still
there—the original owners!” It drives home
how important roots are to her.
Her first “job,” at 17, she recalls, was a
role on the TV show Dallas—on the highest
rated episode ever, the one that revealed
“Who shot JR?” At 17, she also moved to
Hollywood, and I had to ask: was it everything
it was cut out to be …
“Glamorous and fun?” she quips. “No.”
And this is where her candor becomes completely
transparent. “It was filled with rejection.
It was hard.”
ABOVE / Janine and Juliette take a stroll with “Coalie” at their Colleyville ranch Mockingbird Hill.
august 2010 / dallaschild.com
19

m / janine turner
Halfway through the interview, I already have an up-close
view of the things that inspire Turner. She’s a champion for single
moms, honestly admitting it’s a role she didn’t aspire to, but one
she’s never shied away from. Turner is also ardent about directing.
And about teaching kids about American history—more
specifically, our Constitution. Along with daughter Juliette, who,
at just 12 owns the lofty title of National Youth Director, she’s the
voice for www.constitutingamerica.org.
We talk so long about helping kids rediscover American values
and the U.S. Constitution, Turner’s alarm goes off: It’s time to pick
up Juliette, but she orders me to stay put so she can introduce us.
Minutes later, Juliette teeters in wearing mom’s boots. The sight
of her is immediately endearing. Wearing a black leotard, a pair of
designer jeans and two-inch heels, she looks exactly as she should,
a ’tween sans one iota of pretension. Clean-faced, hair drawn back,
Juliette also has a gleam in her eyes when she speaks about mom.
At this point, Juliette steals the show. And mom is perfectly OK
with it. Turner sits back to let her daughter shine in the moment.
Like mom, Juliette is as spirited as Texas, and ready to
represent—which only goes to prove
… you can take the girl out of
Fort Worth, but she’ll always,
always come home. dc
janine’s
Favorite…
Cultural hot
spot Bass Hall
Outing Hiking at (their) ranch
Way to spend “me time”
Reading books about our
revolutionary history
Most visited web site
www.constitutingamerica.org
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dallaschild.com / august 2010
®2010 Baylor Health Care System Foundation DFW & NTXC CE 7.10
Photos Courtesy of Bass Performance Hall; Dreyer’s; and The History Channel/Joe Alblas
Role that inspired her
Martha Jefferson in the
musical 1776 (5th grade
school play at Eagle Mountain
Elementary)
Book The Bible
Flower Yellow Rose
Favorite ice cream
Häagen-Dazs Chocolate
Favorite historical
figure: John Adams
Fave show: America The
Story of Us
Magazine to read on
the sly People