COVERSTORY 04.25
Alana Stewart
Ageless Grace
Photography by Fadil Berisha @fadilberishaphotography
Makeup: Tim Quinn for Halo42 @timquinnbeauty
Hair by Giavanna Calabria @Giavanna_calabria
Julien Farel PB NYC
Styling: Kyle Carlson at Alice + Olivia
Location: Deborah Koepper Beauty
Story by Diana Addison Lyle
Alana Stewart’s journey is a testament to the powerful potential of the human spirit. Despite a deeply challenging childhood in which her father abandoned her, she modeled the strength of her Texan grandmother to rise above the poverty and addiction that afflicted her family. Her steely determination to escape the jaws of cyclical problems was put into motion when she courageously moved to New York City aged 19 to create a new life. It took reservoirs of resolve for Alana to reinvent a future that broke the chains of her suffocating past. She went on to become a highly successful international model, an actress, talk-show host, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker for her documentary ‘Farrah’s Story’; and the author of two books including her memoir, ‘Rearview Mirror’, and ‘My Journey with Farrah: A Story of Life, Love and Friendship’ which became a New York Times best seller.
Alana’s decades-long presence in star-studded Hollywood has been glamorous, complex, and fascinating given a childhood that should have prohibited her ascension. We begin our conversation acknowledging that rough start to life. “I’ve had therapists say to me that I’m lucky to be alive from the childhood I went through,” Alana says matter-of-factly. She’s quick to recognize, however, that lots of people have had difficult childhoods and oftentimes the wounds of that play out in drug addiction or alcoholism. Alana credits her childhood survival in large part to the strong matriarchal presence of her grandmother.
“I owe much to her for the strong foundation she gave me. She had a profound inner strength that seems to have been passed on to me. She had a very tough life losing two husbands, one to war, and one to a heart attack. Against those odds, she was successful in raising three children on her own with very little money. She’s been a huge mainstay in my life and without her, I don’t know how I would have turned out. My grandmother was very religious, and we attended church together. Having that faith in something bigger than myself has been a significant strength for me through difficult periods. I firmly believe that if people grow up with some spiritual foundation, they have more chance of making it through challenging circumstances.”
We touch on the topic of genetics and addiction as Alana describes her early years growing up in Texas.
“After living with my grandmother, I eventually moved in with my mother and her new husband. My stepfather, Al, was a good man but he was an alcoholic, and then my mother became chronically addicted to prescription drugs. In those days we didn’t know much about addiction. There weren’t the Betty Ford Centers with professionals who could help us. I’m fortunate to not have inherited the genetic predisposition for addiction or alcoholism but both my sons have struggled with it in the past, and that’s been a sad and difficult experience in my life. Fortunately, they are both doing well now, and I thank God for that.”
Alana’s solution-oriented responses to her challenges as a teenager resulted in her signing up to be an airline stewardess, but within a year she realized it wasn’t her calling. Her next move entailed summoning the courage to move to the Big Apple to enter the high stakes of international modeling. She describes that journey:
“I was 100% resolved to go to New York and model – more than anything – so that’s what I did. Ignorance was bliss, and I threw myself into it. My family had warned me how dangerous New York was, but that never intimidated me, although I do admit to having an icepick with me for safety. When I went to interviews, I always took my icepick with me, and I’d put it in my bag. One day I was walking down 5th Avenue and I noticed someone scream and she had blood running down her leg. I then saw my ice pick sticking out of my canvas bag and I realized it must have jutted out and nicked her. I was mortified and so sure I was headed to jail from that incident!”
Eileen Ford at Ford Models New York took Alana under her protective wing and Alana explains their relationship as that of a second mother/daughter bond.
“When I met George (Hamilton), it just clicked. He was bigger than life. He was handsome and so much fun. Everything felt right. It was truly meant to be with George”
“I owe so much to Eileen,” she says. “I was never an overnight success. There was tons of rejection and a lot of perseverance involved. It made me question my self-worth a lot in a similar way to how actors feel when they face ten rejections to one ‘yes’. After a year in New York, Eileen sent me off to Paris to her sister agency there, and I ended up moving into an apartment with other models. It was a great experience and we worked very hard; got up early and went off to work. It also came with a loneliness component but looking back on it, I recognize that I grew immensely in that vibrant city, and I am so grateful to have had that special time there.”
Tenacity is a recurring theme in Alana’s life.
“You keep moving forward,” she says pragmatically. “I’m a Taurus and that comes with great determination. Combining that trait with my faith is how I have conquered obstacles in life. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been on a spiritual path – believing that a higher power is watching over me and ensuring that I am protected.”
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t juxtapositions to that unflinching solidity. Alana has a spent a lifetime questioning her value.
“On the surface I always appeared to be very confident, but underneath I have harbored some deep insecurities. I never thought I was pretty because I was tall, gawky and skinny. Then, when I modeled, people always pointed out my defects; I thought my chin was too long. I have a more realistic picture of myself now, but it took a long time to become comfortable with who I was. I think it’s because I wasn’t raised in a healthy home where parents teach children self-esteem. I didn’t grow up with parents building up my confidence.”
Alana’s father was completely absent from her life, and she never knew him. When she was a child in Texas, she once ran up to a police officer she didn’t know, wrapped her arms around his knees, and asked plaintively, “Are you my daddy?”
I ask Alana if that father figure void has, perhaps, played itself out in her choices of men in her adult life.
“Subconsciously, yes,” she affirms.
“I met a lot of men in my young life, but I was never interested in any of them. They were all platonic friendships without any spark, and I blamed myself, thinking that I could never fall in love. I read once that when you don’t have a father in your life, you look for some fantasy figure. I’m sure a therapist would make sense of it.”
That phase of zero sparks in Alana’s life changed completely when she met George Hamilton. She explains the big breakthrough:
“When I met George, it just clicked. He was bigger than life. He was handsome and so much fun. Everything felt right. It was truly meant to be with George.”
Even though they divorced years later, George and Alana have managed to maintain a wonderful friendship after marriage which speaks to the quality of their fundamental relationship. Alana confirms that resolutely.
“We’ve always had a very strong bond and he’s family to me. I see him all the time. Even though we were together a little less than ten years, we had our son, Ashley, together, and those were great years. But I was still so young back then, and I hadn’t really dated, so when I was around 30, I wanted to explore the world more and grow. George had done all of that at a young age, whereas I felt I needed to still do that. He wanted a more settled home life and we divorced amicably and have maintained our strong friendship.”
“My grandmother has been a huge mainstay in my life and without her, I don’t know how I would have turned out. She was very religious, and we attended church together. Having that faith in something bigger than myself has been a significant strength for me through difficult periods. I firmly believe that if people grow up with some spiritual foundation, they have more chance of making it through challenging circumstances”
A few years later, Alana met Rod Stewart, and she admits that the attraction wasn’t immediate.
“Initially I was leery of Rod because I thought he had a certain image, and he wasn’t my type, but then we spent an evening together in which we laughed a lot, and I realized he was sweet, funny, sexy, and had a boyish charm about him. I loved the charming, funny side of him, and he swept me off my feet. We went on to marry and have two children, Sean and Kimberly.”
The highlights of Alana’s career are centered around her accomplishments in modeling and acting.
“During my modeling career, I loved traveling to foreign countries. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn so much about other cultures, art and fashion. I met sophisticated people, and I was chameleon-like – able to assimilate and adapt to their lifestyle and languages. It was one of the most rewarding periods of my life and I also made more money than I could ever have imagined. The excitement and glamor far outweighed the downsides. I would go to museums in Paris or Italy and so many opportunities opened up in which I could grow and flourish. I’ve always loved fashion, so I was definitely in the right profession.”
“Some favorite assignments in my memory bank include the Canary Islands where we were filmed in bathing suits. It was bitterly cold, but we braved the mid-winter temperatures. Tunisia was so unique and exotic. We rode camels on location and that was new and exciting. I went to countries I would never have visited otherwise and for that I’m so grateful. I also developed a real sense of style and I returned to New York completely changed. I had developed a European sophistication and I feel very blessed to have had that life.”
Alana’s acting career developed organically, and she describes that immersion:
“I fell into acting when I moved to LA to be with George. I got initial parts by chance. Later, George was doing a TV series and his agent suggested that I would be ideal for one of the parts. I read for it and was cast without George being involved whatsoever. He was resolved to never interfere or cast any shadow about favoritism because I was his girlfriend. In fact, he was so firm about it that he instructed me to pretend I didn’t know him on set. Nobody, not even the producers, knew I was dating him. The first morning on set I was so nervous, and I had learned my lines perfectly. George walked on set, and deviated from the script, and I said, ‘those aren’t your lines, George!’ He started laughing and we all ended up laughing.”
My acting career was very off and on. I was having babies, and then George and I broke up, and Rod and I met. I was offered a film just before Rod and I met, and I’d gone off to Alabama to shoot The Ravagers. Richard Harris suggested I do that particular part. I got killed in the movie and I had to lie in a coffin for an hour. I went back to LA afterwards, and Rod and I got super serious. That was followed by two babies in succession, and once they were a little older, I wanted to do some more acting. When you are married to a big personality, everything tends to revolve around that person’s work and career, and I felt it necessary to have something of my own. After Rod and I broke up, I studied acting, and I loved doing it, but it wasn’t something I was driven to do.”
Despite that, I ask Alana if she felt acting honed some important elements in her life, and she responds unequivocally.
“Oh yes! Everything you do in life stretches you and makes you grow. I learned a lot from acting and as the years have ensued, the nerves have dissipated. If you have a talent for it, it tends to come naturally. I acted in a few live plays, and I always enjoyed the theater. Every night was different, and I loved that aspect about it. It gave me latitude to improvise depending on my mood that evening. George and I did a couple of plays together.”
“I was in Come Back to the Five and Dime with Jimmy Dean. Cher did the movie of it, and I played the Cher part. There were three main characters, and we did it in LA at The Court Theater on La Cienega Blvd. I loved it.”
Farrah Fawcett was Alana’s closest friend, and Alana was devoted to making sure that the last years of Farrah’s life were filled with love, support and compassion. She was unreservedly devoted to her friend. During their time in Germany while Farrah was undergoing treatment, Alana explains how their Emmy-nominated documentary on Farrah fighting cancer came about.
“The documentary was never planned,” she explains, “and it came about naturally. I was in Germany with Farrah to be her advocate and companion. She was like my sister. She handed me her little hand-held camera and she asked me to film the doctor’s meeting and we started doing that. There were times I didn’t want to film things because I felt they were too invasive, but Farrah would insist that we recorded it because she wanted people to know what cancer was.”
“I realized that Rod Stewart was sweet, funny, sexy, and had a boyish charm about him. I loved the charming, funny side of him, and he swept me off my feet. We went on to marry and have two children, Sean and Kimberly”
“At that point, the networks heard that we were doing this and at first, Farrah didn’t want them to run with it. However, she changed her mind after receiving so many letters from people who were inspired by her journey and who were battling cancer themselves. Through her courage and determination, she gave them so much hope. It was then that she decided that doing the documentary about going to Germany and trying cutting-edge cancer treatments would be beneficial to the public. We filmed the whole documentary pretty much on our own. There were no lights or cameras, only my little handheld camera. There was nothing Hollywoodish about it. It was raw footage and that gave an intimacy to it.”
Alana’s deeply intimate recounting of her journey with her friend continues:
“Farrah’s courage would astound me at times. One day she said to her doctor, ‘in a way I’m glad I got cancer because now I know I can make a difference.’ She truly meant it. She wanted to help others and that’s why she started the Farrah Fawcett Foundation at the inception of her cancer diagnosis. Never in a million years would I have thought that my life would have taken this direction – becoming CEO of the Farrah Fawcett Foundation. While Farrah was still alive, her intention was to run the Foundation herself but, sadly, things didn’t work out that way. The striking thing about her is that she always believed she could beat the disease. She never accepted the fact that she was dying, even though she did say that if it got to a stage where she had two months left to live, she wanted to be notified so she could get all her affairs in order, but that never happened.”
Alana’s profound respect for Farrah’s strength is reflected here:
“I remember so clearly coming back from one trip to Germany, and Farrah was very ill. The doctors put her in hospital and the decline happened so rapidly. The two months reprieve for her to get her affairs in order never existed because she never acknowledged to me that she was dying. It was her way of fighting and surviving. The doctors and nurses all said they’d never seen anyone hang on to life like she did. She desperately didn’t want to die in the hospital but rather at home, but the doctors explained that she was connected to too many things and going home was impossible.”
Farrah’s passing in June 2009 profoundly affected Alana, and the emotions she felt are still viscerally apparent. She explains the delayed effect of grief.
“When you are in the role of advocate and care keeper, you don’t break down. I had to stay strong for Farrah. When I knew that she wasn’t going to make it, I’d go home at night, get into a hot bath, and let the tears out then. I had a French Mastiff dog named Lolita who was like a person, and she was such a comfort. She knew how sad I was and she would come into the bathroom and lie down by the tub. After Farrah died, it took me almost a year to recover. I got bronchitis that wouldn’t go away. Anything to do with the lungs has a lot to do with grief. It took me a while to recover,” she remembers.
But Alana’s sadness during our interview is short-lived as she recounts an incredibly beautiful and uplifting experience that happened to her in Mexico after Farrah’s death.
“Farrah and I loved Mexico. We went down to a friend’s home on the beach in Punta Mita when she was doing relatively well. It was so beautiful there and we were attended to by an amazing staff who cooked us nachos and served us margaritas. After that visit we came back to LA, and Farrah had a setback, but she always remembered our time in that beautiful place.”
“Farrah’s courage would astound me. One day she said to her doctor, ‘in a way I’m glad I got cancer because now I know I can make a difference.’ She truly meant it. She wanted to help others and that’s why she started the Farrah Fawcett Foundation at the inception of her cancer diagnosis. Never in a million years would I have thought that my life would have taken this direction – becoming CEO of the Farrah Fawcett Foundation”
“About 6 months after she died, I had the opportunity to go back to Punta Mita for some deep rest. I was sitting outside on the same chaise that Farrah had sat in, and an overwhelming feeling of sadness came over me. I walked back to the house almost numb, went into the kitchen and got a piece of watermelon out on a plate. I sat down in the open living room that invited in the natural surroundings completely. I thought I saw a bird flying towards the house and I was immediately transfixed by its white wings. It flew right towards me and instead of it being a bird, I saw that it was a huge white butterfly. I have chills recounting the story right now. It flew straight over to me and landed on the edge of the plate I was holding. It looked at me with these huge brown eyes and it stayed with me for a minute. I knew it was Farrah – without any doubt. This was my friend telling me that she was ok and that I should not be sad. It was a powerfully transformative moment. I believe in the afterlife, and I knew from that moment on that Farrah was ok and free.”
The Farrah Fawcett Foundation has been successfully run by Alana as President and CEO for the past 16 years. Her friend, Sherry Lansing, assured her that she had the necessary abilities to run it, and Alana attributes much of its success to her hiring a foundation attorney and consulting with other successful non-profits.
“We set up an office in Beverly Hills,” she explains. “Farrah left a good part of her estate to the Foundation and so we don’t have to fundraise to run it. When we do, 100% of those funds go to cancer research, prevention and awareness or to people who are battling cancer. No staff salaries or expenses are paid out with the funds we raise.”
Alana is a great advocate for staying on top of one’s health and being diligent about regular screenings. She says regretfully, “Farrah hadn’t listened to her body early on, and by the time she got back to LA and discovered her cancer, it was too far gone at Stage 4. She was busy taking care of her sick mother in Texas, sleeping at the hospital every night for several months, and hence the delay.”
In 2012, the Farrah Fawcett Foundation formed a partnership with ‘Stand Up to Cancer’ which was founded by Sherry Lansing and Katie Couric. Together, they’ve donated over $5 million to different research projects and assistance funds. Every year they have the TexMex Fiesta in Dallas which raises money for cancer research and part of it benefits ‘Hope Lodge’ in Dallas, which houses people while they are having cancer treatment. It also benefits ‘Stand Up to Cancer’ for their joint research. All of this work is exceptionally rewarding for Alana who has always wanted to give back to society.
Alana’s happiness is fed in large measure by her family and a spirit of gratitude. She also has someone special in her life, something she wasn’t expecting to happen, and she feels blessed that it has.
“I still have my home in Los Angeles,” she says, “but I love spending time in Florida. I meditate and read spiritual books first thing in the morning, and that sets my mood for the day. I love walking on the beach, and when I’m in LA, I do Pilates.”
“I see my kids frequently,” she continues. “They are in Florida now because their dad has a house here. I have two young granddaughters whom I adore: Delilah is 13 and Willow is 8. I love running the Farrah Fawcett Foundation and that takes up much of my time. We are also in charge of Farrah’s intellectual property. Watching movies, cooking and traveling are activities I enjoy very much. I was in Europe last summer in the south of France. I love Italy and would love to go there next…maybe rent a house for a month and wander around the little villages.”
A key ingredient to Alana’s peace of mind is that she stopped celebrating numbers long ago. She explains:
“Deepak Chopra said to me, ‘Alana; don’t ever think of yourself as a number. Think of yourself as being ageless.’ I always tell women to adopt the same stance. Attaching a number to yourself is self-defeating. I think you are as old as you feel. I think of myself as being youthful because I feel well and want to remain that way. I also firmly believe that gratitude is a significant component of happiness, as is having a spiritual foundation.”
Alana Stewart represents the American Dream in the most optimistic sense. She learned how to survive from her grandmother and courageously created a life in which she could flourish. Most compelling of all: her ageless beauty is enhanced by a deep soulfulness.
