'I HAVE A VERY LUCKY LIFE'

WITH A NEW MEMOIR, THE BLUE BLOODS STAR REFLECTS ON HIS FIVE DECADES IN HOLLYWOOD, HIS LESSONS IN FAILURE AND HOW HE LEARNED TO PRIORITIZE FAMILY AND LOVE

- JULIE JORDAN

Tom Selleck stares silently over 63 acres of land rolling out from a hillside on his ranch. A few things have changed since he bought the Ventura County, Calif., property in 1988. Droughts destroyed almost all the farm’s avocado trees and decimated about 25 oaks that were more than 100 years old. “That just breaks your heart,” says the actor, 79. “But with the rain we’ve had, the sick ones are getting better, and they’re all sprouting a lot of healthy growth.”

When he’s home every two weeks from shooting his long-running hit CBS series Blue Bloods, which is now in its final season, in New York City, the actor—who doesn’t text and says he’s never sent an email himself— likes to start his days reading the papers and then riding around the ranch on his ATV to check on all his wildflowers. “I’ve planted them for years, and they bloom in cycles,” he explains. “When it’s coldest one of them blooms, and then another one comes in. I know it sounds stupid, but I just watch them grow.”

After more than five decades in Hollywood, Selleck is more than content leading a serene life. Having found mega-success at age 35 starring as a Vietnam veteran turned private investigator on the ’80s smash hit Magnum, P.I., which won him an Emmy, the 6'4" star never relished being in the spotlight or pandered to the heartthrob hype, despite his rugged handsomeness.