Hunter Tylo Biography Oh how the mighty have fallen! Such was the statement from one television magazine writer in 2004. This biography continues from where the last one left off and looks at the following six years and how the "mighty" may be seen to have fallen (and that is Hunter that is being referred to). Obviously you can decide if the mighty has really fallen in Hunter's case as I will not need to offer any opinion. Since the last biography was written Katya was declared to be free and clear of cancer and has joined her sister in school. The guys (Christopher and Mickey) are doing well also apparently and Michael and Hunter have kept themselves busy with a range of roles. However their careers have not moved as rapidly as some fans would have hoped. In Hunter’s case it almost came to an end but she is back on ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’ (Bold). What happened up to that point though? Here is a brief summary. In the epilogue of the first biography there was a mention of several situations and people and life has changed since then quite remarkably. Christopher Reeve sadly passed away and Teri Hatcher went from being a self-confessed “has-been” to a Golden Globe winner for ‘Desperate Housewives’. A ‘Tomb Raider’ type of role for Hunter was mentioned. Well as it turns out Hunter did a movie that was sort of similar to ‘Tomb Raider’ but the real deal on the big screen was played by the gorgeous Angelina Jolie. Age discrimination and helping others were also mentioned in the epilogue and it was December 1999 when that was published. Since then Hunter had set up a charity but it appears to have wound down its activities, as did her cosmetics business it seems. Age discrimination has not been kind to Hunter in her acting career and many things have changed since her 1997 lawsuit. That seems to have been a pivotal period of her life. It has affected her acting career, business and charitable endeavors, her personal life (with a divorce just before this was written) and, indirectly, it has even affected her appearance ironically (the lawsuit was about a change of appearance clause in her 'Melrose Place' contract). In 2000 Hunter was on top of the world so let us look at that year first. In early 2000 Hunter was still at the top of her game on (Bold). The world was at her feet and she had a book coming out that created quite a buzz. This book of course was ‘Making a Miracle’ and it turned out to be an inspirational guide to life in some ways. She was featured in an article in People, launched the Hunter’s Chosen Child website, helped launch the Soap Opera Store and she was regularly in the top five list of magazine reader polls for favorite soap stars. Her book was released in early March and hit the New York Times Best Seller list within a few months. She was interviewed in the same week of the book's release by the, beautiful Julie Moran on ‘Entertainment Tonight’ which was seen around the world. In the following weeks during March she went on to make appearances on the ‘Donnie and Marie’ show, ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘Politically Correct’ for example. This whirlwind of activity occurred in the first few months of the year and Michael was filming a movie in Florida at the time called ‘Race for Space’. It was all happening for them. After a few months of work on Bold it was time to go on the annual vacation in July. Hunter celebrates her birthday then and her wedding anniversary as well. This time it was off to Italy where Michael wisely hired a security company to handle the hysteria that might have ensued if Hunter was spotted walking down the street. She appeared on a fashion show called ‘Donna Sotto le Stelle’ (see photo below). The romance of Italy soon came to an end though and during the following month Michael was seen on Bold in a brief role as Sherman Gale, a sleazy lawyer. Hunter was popping up in television interviews and was organizing auctions of various items to raise money for her charity. She also spearheaded a campaign for a new infant eye screening program in California and a bill was passed. For her efforts she was honored in the latter half of year by Retinoblastoma International and both she and Michael were given a Namaste Award (an honor for improving the human condition and uplifting the human spirit). Unfortunately the human spirit is not always that marvelous as some of the family had discovered at a "cult" meeting. Hunter spoke to Soap Opera Weekly about an event the family went to where the speaker allegedly turned out to be a possible cult leader. Hunter’s son Christopher stayed to hear the guy out but Hunter and Michael could not leave there fast enough. Christopher had thought of becoming a musician but thanks in part to this event he decided to pursue another career interest by becoming a pilot. Hunter once said in a media interview that she would never fly him with but she did not say why. I am not sure if Christopher was ever offended by this comment but I am sure that he understands. That was the year 2000. It was quite a phenomenal year for Hunter as work in areas other than acting took off exponentially and set her up for a new line of work in the next few years. There were rumors that she was about to leave Bold because her contract was up for renewal and she would not give her employer an answer until she was ready. She remained on the show though and continued her other work with the charity and related pursuits. So we now come to the year 2001 and some travel, some work on Bold, a play, a few movie releases and more. Appendix to this page Interview transcript Entertainment Tonight Tuesday March 7th, 2000 One to One with Julie Moran Mary Hart's introduction to the story: "Her day job is a real soap opera but off the set Hunter Tylo's life was just as dramatic - infidelity, partying, and her daughter's health tragedy. Tonight Hunter talks about all the highs and all the lows, going one to one with Julie Moran." Note: Julie Moran is referred to herein as JM and Hunter Tylo as HT. JM: "You've chosen, in the book, to write very candidly about infidelity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, that's not an easy thing to do!" HT: "Absolutely it's not!" Break to a voice over by Julie while footage of photos of Hunter and Michael, and of Julie and Hunter walking around on set plays. Julie mentions that the book, "Making A Miracle" has details of the years of drug and alcohol abuse with Michael (Hunter's husband) and the all night partying, while two young children were at home. JM: "So these nights really consisted of drinking, a large restaurant bill..." HT: breaks in with: "Blowing cash, blowing money, blowing cash, showing off, insulting people, setting people up to be insulted..." JM: breaks in with: "Would you fight in restaurants sometimes?" HT: "For show, sure, for show, put on a show for the whole restaurant, absolutely! A cry for help, that we're spinning out of control everybody - 'hey look at us yeah we're in trouble!'" Break to a voice over by Julie, while footage of photos of Hunter and Michael plays, and she says: "During this time Hunter and Michael both became involved in extra-marital affairs - he with a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, she with a stuntman she'd met while shooting a film in India." Julie then quotes from the book: "Mehendra was sexy and passionate.. I relished being romanced." JM: Back with Hunter: "Was there a point, early on, where you had, in some ways, an open marriage?" HT: "No! I wouldn't say that, not an open marriage. We just became neglectful." Break to a voice over by Julie, while footage of photos of Hunter and her daughter Katya plays, and she says: "Eventually they would reconcile but her greatest test was yet ahead of her, when her infant daughter, Katya, was diagnosed with life threatening pediatric eye cancer. Hunter was devastated!" JM: Back with Hunter she asks: "When you found out she was going to have to lose one of her eyes, what was that day like for you?" HT: "That was the hardest day. That was probably the hardest day of my life, and my husband's too. As we were waiting there, all of a sudden a little girl walked in the room." Hunter becomes slightly emotional here, and fights tears. "And she walked up to me, it was so beautiful, her name is Amy and she looked at me and she said 'can you tell which one of my eyes is not real?' " Julie shows some emotion at this point also. Hunter continues: "And I said 'no honey' and I knew, I knew what was going to happen and it was devastating." Collecting herself again she goes on to say: "The second hardest thing was when they handed me a pen, to sign, consent, to remove her eye." JM: Voiceover with more photos playing (of Hunter and Katya) and she says “Katya had one eye removed. The other has, thus far, responded to months of chemotherapy. She's now all of two years old." JM: Back with Hunter: "Is she OK now? Is everything going to be OK, now?" HT: I will believe that. She is flying through, just sailing you know, sailing through with flying colors rather." JM: Voiceover with Julie and Hunter on their set walk: "But through it all, Hunter admits, it is her faith in God that has pulled her through." HT: Commenting: "You just appreciate life in a different way. You know, we can complain all we want but life is still wonderful." And Julie follows up the story by mentioning that Hunter has started a foundation that provides scholarships for low income families in need of day care. Total time from Mary's introduction to the next story introduction was about 3 minutes. 'Making A Miracle' was released in Stateside stores on Monday 6th. A look at Hunter's life in the year 2001 - click here.