For a majority of Dolly Parton‘s life and career, the legendary country singer donned her signature blonde wig that sat high on her head. Although she wore her natural hair early on in her career, she eventually decided that wigs were her signature look.

“I used to try to keep my own hair teased as big as I like it, and having the bleach and all of that, it just broke off,” she said. “I thought, ‘Why am I going through all that? Why don’t I just wear wigs? That way, I never have a bad hair day! I have a big hair day, but not a bad hair day.”

But Dolly Parton wasn’t stingy about sharing her wigs with others and there was one moment that a Little House on the Prairie star was in need of a new ‘do. Find out who she offered her blonde locks up to!

Which ‘Little House’ star borrowed the wig?

Loyal viewers of Little House on the Prairie will remember Eva Beadle, the heartwarming schoolteacher who had an impact on Laura and Mary Ingalls. Portrayed by Charlotte Stewart, Ms. Beadle was a fan-favorite character who remained on the series from Season 1 until Season 4.

But behind-the-scenes, Stewart was struggling with a drug and alcohol addiction, and the actress eventually decided she needed to seek help. But instead of heading to rehabilitation center, Stewart decided to check into a health spa, which combines clinical rehab therapies with wellness and spa amenities.

Entertainment

This ‘Little House’ Star and Jim Morrison Were ‘Trusted Friends’

On Little House on the Prairie, Charlotte Stewart portrayed the patient and kindhearted Miss Beadle, who spent her days teaching the young children of Walnut Grove in a small schoolhouse. But before she took on the beloved role, Stewart was living more of a rock and roll lifestyle, cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway with […]

“I went to a health spa in the South Bay to try to pull things together,” Stewart said. “The place offered transformation through meditation and a vegetarian diet—and of course drugs and alcohol were not on the menu.” But she eventually moved onto another health spa where none other than Dolly Parton was staying.

This new health spa was located just outside of San Diego and during her time there, she and the other guests took part in a sketch.

“The staff asked us all to do a skit,” Stewart shared about her time there. “So I asked Dolly Parton, the country singer, who was also staying there at the time, if I could borrow her wig. She was more than happy to offer one up—a large blonde thing—and I did a skit in which I played Holly Spartan.”

Others who have borrowed Dolly’s wig

Charlotte Stewart wasn’t the only person that Dolly has let borrow one of her wigs. During an episode of The Tonight Show, Parton asked Jimmy Fallon to try on one of her wigs.

“You should put it on,” Parton teased and although Fallon was hesitant, he agreed. The talk show host seemed to love the wig and declared he was “Coming on the tour [as the] opening act!”

Science fiction has never exactly been an easy genre to bring to television. The worlds are often enormous, the concepts even bigger and the budgets potentially terrifying. But that doesn’t seem to be stopping anyone from exploring the genre on TV. In fact, anyone searching for the best sci-fi books 2026 has to offer might want to start with the novels and literary universes now being transformed into some of television’s most ambitious upcoming shows.

William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the landmark 1984 cyberpunk novel that helped envision cyberspace before most people had even heard of the internet, is finally becoming a series. Blade Runner 2099 takes audiences back into the universe that began with Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, while The Expanse creators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are looking toward another enormous interstellar saga with The Captive’s War.

Then there’s a newer generation of science-fiction hits making the leap. Brandon Sanderson is personally helping develop his Skyward series for television, while Matt Dinniman’s wonderfully bizarre Dungeon Crawler Carl — in which the destruction of Earth becomes an intergalactic reality show — is headed to Peacock.

Some are already made, others remain in development. But together they suggest television’s next great science-fiction worlds may already be sitting on our bookshelves.

‘Blade Runner 2099’ — based on ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ (1968)

Author: Philip K. Dick
Publisher: Doubleday
What it’s about: In a post-apocalyptic future, bounty hunter Rick Deckard is assigned to hunt down and “retire” escaped androids that are virtually indistinguishable from human beings. What begins as a futuristic detective story becomes Philip K. Dick’s exploration of empathy, memory, identity and the increasingly difficult question of what actually makes someone human.

Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner substantially reinvented Dick’s novel while retaining Deckard, the escaped artificial humans and many of its central philosophical questions. That film subsequently spawned Blade Runner 2049 and now Blade Runner 2099.

TV Adaptation: Rather than another adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner 2099 continues the screen universe inspired by it. The eight-episode Prime Video limited series is set 50 years after Blade Runner 2049 and stars Michelle Yeoh as Olwen, a replicant approaching the end of her life, and Hunter Schafer as Cora.

Silka Luisa serves as showrunner, Jonathan van Tulleken directs the opening episodes and Ridley Scott executive produces. All eight episodes are scheduled to premiere November 25, 2026.

Silka Luisa (creator/showrunner) says: “It was always considered as a limited series. Part of making the transition from film to TV is a really big jump for something that’s as cinematic as Blade Runner. And so, in that sense, it was really important to us that we told a story that, in a way, is like a movie — in the sense that there’s a beginning, there’s a middle and there’s an end. We went into it with Alcon, with all of our producing partners, knowing, okay, we really want to tell a complete story. And eight episodes — I mean, eight’s my lucky number. That’s the number I would have picked — but it felt like the right amount for the story we were planning on telling.”

“If you’re thinking about money while you’re just trying to imagine the world, it’s too debilitating. The process of trying to invent the story and come up with the most exciting way to tell the story is the first step. Then there’s a whole process afterwards where they figure out what that actually costs. And then, once you know the story you want to tell, you can go in and be like, ‘Okay, I can take this part out. I can move these pieces around,’ without damaging the most important aspects that you want to protect.”

‘Neuromancer’ (1984)

Author: William Gibson
Publisher: Ace Books
What it’s about: Case was once a gifted computer hacker capable of entering cyberspace until former employers damaged his nervous system and took that ability away from him. He’s offered a chance to regain it in return for participating in an extraordinarily dangerous operation. Working alongside augmented mercenary Molly Millions, Case is pulled into a conspiracy involving enormously powerful artificial intelligences.

Gibson’s novel became one of the foundational works of cyberpunk, popularized the term “cyberspace,” and envisioned aspects of our relationship with computers and virtual worlds years before the World Wide Web existed.

TV Adaptation: Apple TV has produced a 10-episode adaptation starring Callum Turner as Case and Briana Middleton as Molly, alongside Mark Strong as Armitage and Peter Sarsgaard as John Ashpool. Graham Roland is showrunner, JD Dillard directs the first three episodes and Gibson is among the executive producers. Neuromancer premieres January 22, 2027, with its first two episodes, followed by weekly episodes through March 19.

Showrunner Graham Roland says: “I think 42 years ago, this book felt like pure science fiction. And Gibson famously coined the term cyberspace to describe a digital world where people in the book go to escape and to interact with. And he did all this before the internet existed. He wrote about the collision of artificial intelligence and human intelligence before artificial intelligence existed. And now we’re living in a world 42 years later where these things are part of all of our everyday lives. And so it felt like an appropriate time for us to revisit the text and to put it in a new light now that these things are actually here.”

‘The Captive’s War’— beginning with The Mercy of Gods (2024)

Author: James S.A. Corey (pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck)
Publisher: Orbit
What it’s about: Humanity discovers that it occupies a very small place in the universe when the enormously powerful Carryx empire conquers the human world of Anjiin. Research scientist Dafyd Alkhor and a group of fellow survivors are taken prisoner and transported into a vast imperial system populated by other conquered species. Captives must demonstrate their usefulness to the Carryx or face extinction. The story launches an epic about humanity attempting to survive within — and potentially resist — an alien civilization of almost unimaginable size and power.

TV Adaptation: Abraham and Franck have reunited with The Expanse showrunner Naren Shankar and director Breck Eisner through their company Expanding Universe. A television adaptation of The Captive’s War is in development with Amazon MGM Studios. Shankar is attached as showrunner, Eisner as director, and Abraham, Franck and Shankar are involved in writing. This is in development and has not yet received a series order, so we need to make that distinction explicit.

Daniel Abraham says: “The Captive’s War is kind of the other side of space opera from The Expanse. The Expanse is Alfred Bester and Larry Niven and Arthur [C.] Clarke, and this grounded science fiction that really kind of considers that part of a history. But there’s a whole different realm of science fiction that is Dune and Left Hand of Darkness and all of these things that are very far future, very broad canvases. And we’ve moved over there to do this.”

“Ty Franck pitched, ‘What if you re-envisioned the biblical Book of Daniel as epic science fiction, [where] you have this person who is taken by the great empire the way that the slaves were taken to Babylon, and incorporated into the mechanisms of empire?’ And how you deal with being the functionary of your oppressor and also maintaining yourself and maintaining your view and maintaining your struggle against oppression in that context. I thought, ‘Yeah, that sounds awesome. We should do that.’” 

‘Skyward’ (2018)

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
What it’s about: Spensa Nightshade desperately wants to become a fighter pilot defending humanity’s last refuge on the planet Detritus from relentless alien attacks. There’s one major obstacle beyond simply getting into flight school: Spensa’s father was a pilot branded a coward after apparently abandoning his squadron during battle. She enters flight training determined both to prove herself and redeem her family’s reputation. What Spensa eventually discovers raises much larger questions about her father, humanity’s enemy and why humans are trapped on Detritus in the first place.

TV Adaptation: Tomorrow Studios is developing Skyward as a television series. Sanderson is taking an unusually hands-on role, co-writing the pilot with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, whose credits include Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. All three are executive producers. At present, Skyward does not have a network or streaming home and has not received a series order. The pilot is being developed with the intention of taking the project to buyers.

Janci Patterson (co-writer of the Blightfall spin-off from Skyward): “Skyward is the ‘boy and his dragon’ trope, except it’s a girl with her spaceship, which is how Brandon originally pitched it to me back before he wrote it. I thought that was brilliant. You’ve got this girl and her spaceship, and they’re being attacked by aliens. They’re stuck on this planet and don’t really know why they’re being attacked. Then the story expands into these humans learning about alien cultures and having adventures on new planets.”  

‘Consider Phlebas’ (1987)

Author: Iain M. Banks
Publisher: Macmillan
What it’s about: The first published novel in Banks’ Culture series takes place against a galactic war between two radically different civilizations. The Culture is an enormously advanced post-scarcity society in which biological beings live alongside immensely powerful artificial intelligences called Minds. Its opponent, the Idiran Empire, is an expansionist civilization driven by religious belief. Shape-shifting mercenary Bora Horza Gobuchul fights on the Idiran side and is sent to retrieve a Culture Mind stranded on a forbidden planet. The unusual twist is that Banks introduces his seemingly utopian Culture largely through the eyes of someone who distrusts it—particularly its reliance on artificial intelligence.

TV Adaptation: Amazon MGM Studios is developing a new television adaptation written and executive produced by Charles Yu, creator of Interior Chinatown. Chloé Zhao is executive producing through Book of Shadows, alongside Plan B’s Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner and Banks’ widow, Adele Banks. This is Amazon’s second attempt to adapt Consider Phlebas. An earlier version announced in 2018 with Dennis Kelly attached was abandoned in 2020. The current project is an entirely new attempt. It remains in development without a series order, announced cast or premiere date.

Iain Banks (who died in 2013) says: “Partly it [the creation of the Culture] was in reaction to a lot of the SF I was reading at the time. The British stuff mostly seemed a bit miserablist and the US’s too right wing. I wanted SF that combined what I regarded as the best of both: the thoughtfulness and sense of proportion of the UK’s and the energy and optimism of the US brand.”

“The way the Culture came about initially was as—I thought at the time—a single-use solution to a particular problem. I was getting ready to write Use of Weapons and I knew that Zakalwe was this sort of ultimate warrior guy, just very martially able, but I wanted him to be on the side of the good guys somehow. Squaring that circle was the problem, so I came up with the idea of the Culture as his ultimate employers: a society basically on the side of the angels but willing to use people like Zakalwe (utopia spawning few warriors, as the later-written poem says) to do its dirty but justified work. The ‘justified’ bit always having something to do with statistics; from the beginning the Culture had to be able to prove—rather than simply assert—that it was generally doing the right thing, even when it interfered without permission in other societies. That was it, initially, but then the Culture proved to be the nucleus around which all my other until then rather nebulous ideas started to cluster and take shape, and it just developed—naturally, it felt—by itself, from there.”

‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ (2020)

Author: Matt Dinniman
Publisher: Originally self-published; later print editions published by Ace
What it’s about: Carl is outside in his underwear with his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning Persian cat, Princess Donut, when aliens effectively demolish human civilization. The survivors are offered an opportunity to enter an enormous underground dungeon constructed beneath the remains of Earth. There’s a catch: the entire thing is an intergalactic reality television program. Carl and Donut become contestants in an increasingly lethal series of dungeon levels filled with monsters, traps, other survivors and an AI with a decidedly unusual personality — all while trying to build an audience among the billions of aliens watching them. The series combines science fiction, apocalyptic adventure, LitRPG, satire and extremely dark comedy.

TV Adaptation: Peacock has officially greenlit a live-action Dungeon Crawler Carl television series. Chris Yost, whose credits include Thor: Ragnarok and The Mandalorian, is writing and executive producing. Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door is producing with Universal Content Productions/Universal Studio Group. Unlike several projects on this list, therefore, Dungeon Crawler Carl has moved beyond merely having its rights optioned or a pilot being developed.

Matt Dinniman says: “This book (Dungeon Crawler Carl) has always been kind of difficult to elevator pitch, but here’s my best one. Aliens come and destroy the world, killing most of the population in a single instant. Amongst the survivors are a man, Carl, and his ex-girfriend’s cat, Princess Donut. The aliens have turned the planet into the set of the galaxy’s highest-rated reality game show, Dungeon Crawler World. Carl and Donut enter the dungeon, become contestants on the show, and are forced to fight for their lives while a galaxy of viewers watch their progress. Donut the cat quickly 1) Learns the Magic Missile spell and 2) Becomes a fan favorite.”

“I never intended for this to be a funny story, but the concept along with some of the characters—specifically Princess Donut (who is given sapience and the ability to talk in an early chapter)—allows for some really bizarre and ultimately funny scenarios. I don’t go out of my way to say ‘Okay, that scene was pretty dark. Let’s make a funny scene now.’ Instead, I try to rely on the characters themselves to get from point A to B, and humor is oftentimes a major coping mechanism. Plus, they are on a game show. The bad guys running the whole thing are also using their own brand of sadistic humor to keep the audience entertained.” (Grim Dark Magazine)

Recreating the American frontier of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood was no small task for Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie. The real Ingalls family traveled by covered wagon across the Midwest during the 19th century, living in places that would eventually inspire Wilder’s beloved books.

To bring that world to the screen more than 150 years later, the production needed a location that could convincingly stand in for the sweeping, largely unsettled prairie the Ingalls family once called home. Fortunately, the filmmakers found just the place—and transformed it into the world viewers see in the new series.

While the original series, which ran from 1974-1983, was filmed throughout California, the new version was created in an entirely new location. Find out more about where Little House on the Prairie was filmed and what the stars have said about living on the prairie. 

Entertainment

Crosby Fitzgerald Talks Portraying Caroline Ingalls in the New ‘Little House’

Crosby Fitzgerald admits she never saw herself as Caroline “Ma” Ingalls, yet when she auditioned for the new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie, she realized there was an opportunity to explore the woman behind the beloved matriarch. Rather than simply recreating an iconic television character, Fitzgerald wanted to portray Caroline as a complex […]

Where was ‘Little House’ filmed?

The recent adaptation of Little House on the Prairie was filmed far away from where the original series was and from where Laura and her family actually lived. The Netflix series was set in the Canadian province of Manitoba, with a majority of the filming taking place in Cooks Creek and Winnipeg. 

Cooks Creek housed the town of Independence, Kansas, where the Ingalls traveled to, which consisted of 29 buildings and the family’s log cabin. Winnipeg was where the cast and crew filmed many of their exterior prairie scenes, as well as the moments that took place in the winter. 

Historical accuracy extended all the way to how the buildings were constructed. The Ingalls family’s log cabin alone required 96,000 pounds of timber, with the production team using wooden pegs rather than modern nails to assemble it—recreating the construction methods settlers would have relied on in the 1800s.

“We paid particular attention to historic accuracy and detail,” set decorator James V. Kent shared. “I went out of my way to purchase really authentic American antiques. I hired a local blacksmith to make hooks and pieces that you can actually hammer into the logs. I mean, that’s the kind of detail we went into on this show.”

What is was like filming in Winnipeg

Little House wasn’t filmed on a set but rather in Manitoba’s open lands, an area the cast and crew loved. Woman’s World previously spoke with Rebeca Amzallag, who starred as Lacey Aubert on Little House, about what it was like to film in Winnipeg. 

“I love Winnipeg,” Amzallag shared. “I’ve shot in Winnipeg a few other times and the people are so friendly. It is not a surprise to me that more and more shows and movies are shooting there… the food is amazing in Winnipeg. The people are really sweet.”

Amzallag added, “Because of the fires that were occurring all around, the sky was always a little bit smoky and it made for such a beautiful landscape shot. You have this pink light because of the smoke. This really challenging time for Canadians is commemorated on the show by the beautiful landscape.”

Give Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie a rewatch and be sure to stay tuned for Season 2.

Juneteenth is right around the corner and to celebrate the historic holiday, we have decided to take a look back at some of the brave Black celebrities who have served our country. From the late James Earl Jones, whom most people know as the voice of Mufasa and Darth Vader, to musician Jimi Hendrix, these stars truly went above and beyond to protect our country and we thank them for that. To see what Black celebrities served in the military, keep reading.

James Earl Jones

Legendary actor James Earl Jones served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955. After being commissioned as an officer in mid-1953, he completed the Infantry Officers Basic Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. He went on to attend the prestigious Ranger School and played a key role in establishing a cold weather training command near Leadville, Colorado. Jones was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant. The beloved star passed away at age 93 on September 9, 2024.

Entertainment

Celebrities in the Military: 14 Beloved Veterans Including the Late Great James Earl Jones

God bless these amazing actors, musicians and comedians served our country before they were famous!

Jimi Hendrix

Rock ‘n’ roll guitarist Jimi Hendrix enlisted in the Army in 1961 and served for one year before switching back to his guitar. Hendrix tragically died in September 1970 from accidental asphyxiation while under the influence of barbiturates. He was just 27, and is still considered to be one of the best musicians of all time.

Morgan Freeman

Before becoming one of Hollywood’s most recognizable voices, Morgan Freeman had dreams of flying. In 1955, he was so passionate about aviation that he turned down a drama scholarship to enlist in the U.S. Air Force. Freeman served for four years before leaving the military in 1959 to pursue acting. Freeman is currently 89 years old and has won one Oscar for Million Dollar Baby.

Ice-T (Tracy Marrow)

Ice-T (born Tracy Marrow) served in the U.S. Army for four years in the late 1970s. He was mainly stationed in Hawaii and was honorably discharged in December 1979, having attained the rank of Private First Class.

“Let’s put it like this: I don’t know if I would voluntarily go back into the military, but I’m glad I did,” Ice-T told B High Atl in 2023. “It gave me a lot of [experience learning] how to create a plan, you know? I learned how to do routines, I learned how to problem solve.” 

Ice-T is currently 68 years old and starring in Law & Order: SVU. He’s been married to Coco Austin since 2002 and they have one child together.

Entertainment

Celebrities You Never Knew Were in the Marines: Learn About Their Service

When we think of celebrities, we often picture glamorous red carpets, dazzling performances and jet-setting lifestyles. But what if we told you that some of Hollywood’s biggest stars once traded their designer suits for military uniforms? That’s right—before they became household names, these celebrities served in one of the most disciplined and revered branches of […]

Sidney Poitier

Years before winning an Oscar for Lilies of the Field, Sidney Poitier served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was on active duty from 1943 to 1944 and worked as a physiotherapist in a hospital after initially failing the literacy requirements for enlistment. He joined to try and escape being homeless. Following his time in the service, Poitier went on to become the first African-American to be nominated for and eventually win Best Actor at the Oscars for Lilies of the Field. He passed away in January 2022 at age 94.

Shaggy (Orville Richard Burrell) 

Most people know Shaggy (born Orville Richard Burrell) as the voice behind the hit song “It Wasn’t Me,” but before he was topping the charts, he served his country with honor. From 1988 to 1992, Shaggy was a field artillery cannon crewman in the U.S. Marine Corps. During his service, he was deployed to the Middle East for Operation Desert Storm, proving himself to be not just a talented musician, but a true American hero.

“I got this voice by mocking drill instructors in the military,” Shaggy said in 2024, per Military.com. “Cause in the Marines, the drill instructors would go, ‘Yeah, boy, drop and give it 20; let’s go, boy’ and I would mock him as a form of joking because it motivated, you know, your platoon.” 

“I just sang that song in that voice because it sounded cool, and all of a sudden, ‘Oh Carolina’ blew up, and I’m faced with this situation that I’m going to have to sing every song like that,” he added. 

Shaggy is now 57 years old and still touring. He’s married to Rebecca Packer and has two children. 

Ready for more? Subscribe to our YouTube channel for video podcasts, health tips and uplifting stories designed for women 40, 50, 60 and beyond.

For most television viewers, the career of Tom Selleck begins with Thomas Magnum’s Ferrari. For others, it starts around the Reagan family dinner table on Blue Bloods. Yet if you listen to Selleck talk about the experiences that truly shaped him, he almost invariably finds his way back to a very different place: the American frontier. More specifically, he returns to a 1979 television miniseries based on the novels of Louis L’Amour, a project that not only altered the course of his career but, as he has frequently claimed, changed the course of his life.

Looking back in his memoir You Never Know, Selleck made it pretty clear. “The Sacketts was a high-profile miniseries, and I was a key part of the cast,” he wrote. “It’s no exaggeration to say that The Sacketts changed me. I had done a solid piece of work, and people would actually see it. I had found a genre where I was sure I belonged. I had been exposed to a lifestyle that I had never really considered but I wouldn’t soon forget. That job changed my professional opportunities and my whole outlook on what my appetites might be—and not only as an actor. In all of my life. This life should be a part of my life.”

It’s a pretty amazing statement, particularly because Selleck wasn’t talking about fame, ratings, awards or career momentum. He was instead talking about the basic idea of simply belonging. Somewhere between the horses, the landscape and the people surrounding him, he discovered something that resonated deeply.

That realization might have surprised the young actor who arrived on the production. A newspaper profile published during that period described Selleck as Detroit-born and Los Angeles-raised, hardly someone whose background suggested he was destined to become one of the most recognizable Western stars of his generation. In fact, acting itself had not been the carefully mapped-out ambition many fans might assume. Reflecting on those early years, Selleck admitted, “I got into the business by accident.”

His path to the West

Before acting took hold, he had attended college on a basketball scholarship and was still trying to figure out what direction his life would take. Westerns weren’t part of some grand master plan, nor was the notion of him becoming a television icon. Like so many turning points in life, the opportunity simply appeared. And what The Sacketts offered was more than a starring role. It offered an education.

Years later, while preparing to enter the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Great Western Performers, Selleck reflected on the company he found himself keeping during that production. “When I started doing Westerns, it was my friend Ben Johnson,” he recalled. “And what a way to start a Western with him next to you most of the time in The Sacketts. And Slim Pickens was in that movie. Jack Elam was in that movie. Buck Taylor was in that movie. I could just watch people and learn.”

That cast list reads like a Western Hall of Fame. Ben Johnson had worked as a rodeo cowboy before becoming an Academy Award-winning actor. Slim Pickens came directly from the rodeo circuit. Jack Elam and Buck Taylor were already beloved figures within the genre. For a younger actor still finding his voice, simply observing these men at work became a master class.

Author Louis L’Amour’s presence added another dimension. While Selleck was not initially a devoted reader of his novels, he quickly developed a deep appreciation for both the material and the man behind it. More importantly, they had introduced him to a genre that suddenly felt like home.

“I’ve always enjoyed the Western genre,” Selleck later explained, “but I got hooked on Westerns with The Sacketts.”

That word—hooked—appears repeatedly whenever he discusses the project. It wasn’t simply another acting job or a stepping stone toward future opportunities. Something fundamental had happened, and the more Selleck reflected on that period, the clearer it became that The Sacketts affected him on multiple levels at once.

One of those influences involved authenticity, a concept that would become increasingly important throughout his career. Even in 1979, Selleck appreciated the production’s effort to avoid a polished Hollywood version of the Old West. Discussing the filming experience, he remembered, “It’s an old-fashioned Western, but it is also realistic. We don’t sell slick and processed up, because I was in a section dealing with a cattle drive. I wore the same outfit—and so did the others in the scenes—for six weeks. If I didn’t, it wouldn’t have had the same feel.”

The comment may sound minor, but it hints at something that would become a recurring theme throughout his life. Selleck cared about the details, wanting things to feel genuine. As the years passed, that commitment would extend to saddles, firearms, hats, horses and virtually every other aspect of Western filmmaking.

Yet perhaps the most profound impact of The Sacketts occurred away from the cameras altogether. Years later, speaking to Country Living, Selleck revealed that the production planted an idea that never left him. “When I got The Sacketts,” he said, “it’s where I realized that, if I ever could afford it, I’d like to have a ranch and some land and horses.”

It’s one of the most revealing comments he has ever made about the project because it moves beyond acting and proves that the production was influencing the life he wanted to build. Long before he owned a ranch, and long before he spent his days caring for horses and working the land, the seed had already been planted.

At the same time, the professional benefits were impossible to ignore. The Sacketts demonstrated that Selleck looked comfortable in the saddle and believable in the Western world, which is something that producers noticed. One profile from the era observed that after seeing him in The Sacketts, producer Ernie Frankel knew he had found the right actor for another Western project, Concrete Cowboys. Opportunities began arriving with increasing frequency.

And even more importantly, the friendships continued. Among them was a friendship with Louis L’Amour that would soon lead to another memorable Western adventure, one built around a promise made by a group of actors and a novelist who hoped they might someday ride together again.

Louis L’Amour, ‘The Shadow Riders’ and learning the craft

If The Sacketts opened the door to the Western genre for Selleck, it also introduced him to relationships that would last for decades. Chief among them was Louis L’Amour, whose novels had inspired the miniseries and whose friendship would leave a lasting impression on the actor.

The bond that developed among the cast and creative team during The Sacketts was strong enough that they made an unusual promise to one another. Looking back in You Never Know, Selleck recalled, “During The Sacketts, Ben Johnson, Jeff Osterhage, Louis L’Amour, Sam Elliott and I had made a pact that if we got another chance to work together in a Western, we would all show up.”

At the time, nobody knew whether that opportunity would ever come. But Louis L’Amour had other ideas. While the Sackett family stories became tied up in legal complications, preventing immediate follow-up adaptations, L’Amour simply created a new family and a new adventure. “With Louis’ Sacketts tied up in some kind of litigation,” Selleck wrote, “he created a new family, the Travens, in his next book, The Shadow Riders. CBS jumped at the chance to make it a movie.”

Just like that, the old gang was back together. “So our band of brothers,” Selleck remembered, “and, oh yes, a new sister, Katharine Ross, were all in Sonora.”

The phrase “band of brothers” is telling. When Selleck discusses Westerns, he often talks about the trappings as well as the people. The friendships formed during these productions clearly mattered to him. In Sam Elliott he found a lifelong friend, n Ben Johnson he found a mentor and in Louis L’Amour he found someone whose respect meant a great deal.

After The Shadow Riders wrapped, L’Amour presented Selleck with a gift that remains one of the most meaningful acknowledgments of his career. “After we finished,” Selleck wrote, “Louis L’Amour gave me a leather bound edition of The Shadow Riders. He signed it: ‘To Tom Selleck. You make my people live. What more can I say? Louis.'”

For an actor portraying characters created by one of the most successful Western novelists in history, there was probably no higher compliment. L’Amour wasn’t simply praising a performance, but rather he was telling Selleck that he had successfully brought his fictional world to life.

That validation came at a time when Selleck was becoming increasingly invested in Western storytelling. The genre had stopped being something he occasionally visited and was becoming something he actively studied. Years later, he would describe how his understanding evolved. “The more I’ve learned,” he said, “the more particular I’ve become.”

As his Western career continued, Selleck developed a reputation for paying extraordinary attention to details that many viewers would never consciously notice. He cared about hats, saddles, firearms, wardrobe, horse tack and period accuracy. The more he learned about the history of the American West, the harder it became to ignore mistakes that Hollywood routinely accepted. “I’ve gone for accuracy,” he explained.

That commitment became a philosophy. Speaking during his Hall of Great Western Performers induction weekend, Selleck explained how he approached creating characters. “I’ve always found the accuracy of that stuff really important,” he said. “The way I learned my craft as an actor, props and wardrobe are extremely important. If you’re cast right and then your wardrobe furthers who the character is and your props do, you’re about 90 percent there. Then you only screw it up by acting.”

It’s a funny line, but it reveals something significant about how he works. Selleck doesn’t treat costumes and props as decoration, but instead as extensions of character. The right hat tells you something about a man while the right saddle adds to that story. The right revolver, rifle or pair of spurs helps create someone who feels real rather than manufactured.

Entertainment

The History of 'The Magnificent Seven' Western Franchise (Exclusive)

The upcoming MGM+ television version of The Magnificent Seven is only the latest reminder that this particular Western simply refuses to ride off into the sunset. More than 60 years after the original film debuted in theaters, the franchise continues to reinvent itself through sequels, television and remakes, while somehow always circling back to the […]

Over time, he became deeply involved in those choices. During the same interview, he enthusiastically discussed custom-built saddles, historically accurate spurs, period firearms and the painstaking research that went into productions like Monte Walsh and Last Stand at Saber River. What emerges from those comments isn’t the portrait of an actor casually passing through the genre. It sounds more like a collector, historian and preservationist rolled into one.

And others noticed. Director Simon Wincer, who would eventually collaborate with Selleck on several Westerns, understood just how much the actor enjoyed that side of the process. “Tom’s fantastic with that sort of stuff because he loves it all,” Wincer observed.

Actress Laura San Giacomo came away with a similar impression. “The detail was so amazing,” she recalled. “I remember Tom being so proud of the detail that was in all the props and the guns and the period stuff.”

What’s fascinating is how naturally all of this seems to have grown out of The Sacketts. The young actor who arrived on that production hoping to do good work gradually became someone who wanted to know why a particular saddle was used, whether a rifle was historically correct or how a horseman of a certain era would have dressed.

And that curiosity never left him. As a matter of fact, it appears to have deepened with every Western he made. Looking back, Selleck often returned to the same thought.

“I was very lucky to get cast in The Sacketts,” he said. Then, almost as if he were summing up the entire experience in a single sentence, he added: “I got hooked on the genre.”

By the end of the 1980s, that passion would lead him to perhaps the most iconic Western role of his career—a sharpshooter named Matthew Quigley, a sprawling adventure set in Australia and a film that would give him both a signature role and a horse that would remain part of his life long after the cameras stopped rolling.

‘Quigley Down Under,’ Spike and bringing the West home

By the time Quigley Down Under arrived in 1990, Selleck had already achieved something many actors spend entire careers pursuing. Magnum, P.I. had turned him into one of television’s biggest stars, his face was instantly recognizable around the world and he had successfully moved between television and feature films. Yet despite all that success, Quigley Down Under represented something special. Looking back years later, Selleck admitted that he had long carried a particular ambition. “I was thinking the other day that I probably had two fantasies as an actor,” he recalled. “And one is to do a Western, which I just did, and the other would be to do a baseball movie before I get too old and have to play a manager.”

The comment might seem surprising considering that he had already appeared in The Sacketts, Concrete Cowboys and The Shadow Riders. But Quigley was different. This was a large-scale theatrical Western built around a larger-than-life hero, the kind of role usually associated with the giants of the genre. 

“When I found the script, it had already been through a lot of hands, one of them being Sean Connery’s, but I just absolutely loved it,” he reflected. “It was this bigger-than-life, iconic character, the kind of role you would want to cast John Wayne in.” The appeal was undeniable, but so was the pressure. Years later, Selleck admitted that stepping into the role wasn’t entirely comfortable. “I found it a little intimidating starring in Quigley because I said, ‘I think I would have cast John Wayne in this.’ And he would have done better, but I had to get over that.”

When he accepted a Western role, more than taking a job, he was stepping into a tradition that he respected deeply and wanted to honor. And helping him achieve that was director Simon Wincer, who would become one of Selleck’s most important collaborators. Reflecting on the production years later, Selleck praised Wincer’s instincts and understanding of the material. “I think Simon really got that picture,” he said. “He’s Australian, but he also understands horses.” The Australian setting gave the film an added dimension as well. Rather than simply retelling familiar frontier stories, Quigley Down Under placed a classic American Western hero in an unfamiliar landscape. Selleck thought that contrast was part of the film’s enduring appeal. “I think the idea of a fish out of water, particularly a cowboy, going somewhere else has a great allure.”

The film would ultimately become one of the most beloved Westerns of Selleck’s career, and he remains proud of it decades later. “It’s passed the test of time and is still very, very popular,” he said. The affection audiences continue to have for the film is undoubtedly connected to the care that Selleck and Wincer invested in every aspect of the production. When promoting the film in 1990, he was asked about Matthew Quigley’s famous Sharps rifle. Rather than offering a brief answer, he immediately launched into a discussion of its history and technical specifications. 

Years later, he was still discussing that rifle with obvious enthusiasm. “Simon and I worked very hard to make this Sharps rifle a character in the script,” he said. In Selleck’s view, the weapon was part of the story itself, something audiences needed to understand in order to appreciate who Matthew Quigley was. “The Sharps rifle was literally the instrument of this Avenging Angel,” he explained. The effort paid off. Fans still quote dialogue from the film and still associate him with the character. “It’s tied to me,” Selleck said. “I’m proud of that.”

Part of what attracted him to projects like Quigley was the opportunity to learn. “I enjoy learning or acquiring or just doing the kind of special skills that different characters have in a movie,” he explained. Westerns offered those opportunities in abundance. They required horsemanship, marksmanship, physical confidence and an understanding of environments far removed from sound stages and studio lots. For Selleck, it was all an ideal fit.

The production also introduced him to one of the most enduring companions of his career. The horse Selleck rode in Quigley Down Under was named Spike, and long after filming ended, Spike remained part of his life. “Spike is still in my barn,” Selleck would share. The horse eventually made the trip from Australia to California and even appeared in another film. “Spikey’s been in two movies,” Selleck joked. “He’s a big time movie star.” The story is amusing, but it also illustrates how completely Westerns had become woven into his life. The productions didn’t simply end when filming wrapped. In some cases, they literally followed him home.

The Selleck ranch

In fact, that process had begun years earlier while filming The Sacketts. Reflecting on that experience, Selleck recalled, “When I got The Sacketts, I was just hooked. It’s where I realized that, if I ever could afford it, I’d like to have a ranch and some land and horses.” Amazingly, what began as a passing realization eventually became reality. Selleck purchased a ranch in Ventura County and embraced a lifestyle that would have seemed unlikely to the young man who grew up in suburban Southern California. More importantly, he never described the property as merely a refuge from Hollywood. When discussing the ranch, he usually talked about the work involved. “I do most of the grunt work around the ranch, and 65 acres is a pretty big piece of property for around here.”

The connection between the ranch and the Westerns wasn’t something biographers invented after the fact. Selleck made the connection himself as the Westerns introduced him to horses, ranches and landscapes he had never experienced growing up in Sherman Oaks. Most importantly, they introduced him to a way of life that clearly resonated with him. The dream that first surfaced while filming The Sacketts eventually became part of his everyday reality. By the time Spike was standing in a barn on his California ranch, the line between the Westerns he made and the life he lived had become remarkably difficult to separate.

As the years passed, another realization began to emerge the power of “place” and how landscapes, open space and the connection between people and the land meant something.  And that realization would shape some of the most meaningful work of his career, including a project that many fans consider his finest Western performance.

‘Monte Walsh’ and Why He Never Stopped Wanting to Ride

If there is one idea that surfaces repeatedly whenever Tom Selleck talks about Westerns, it’s the importance of landscape and the role it plays in shaping both stories and the people who inhabit them.

Looking back on his years making Westerns, Selleck once reflected, “This sense of place has become very important and was instilled in me when I started doing Westerns.” It wasn’t an isolated comment. In another interview, he expanded on the thought and explained what attracted him to certain Westerns over others. “The kind of movies Westerns I prefer doing are not really towny Westerns,” he said. “They’re movies where the land is a central character. Vast open spaces, I think audiences really respond to that, particularly nowadays.”

He made a similar observation while discussing the appeal of the genre more broadly. “In the kind of Westerns I like, the land is usually a central character in the movie. It’s like one of the actors.”

That perspective helps explain many of the projects he chose throughout his career. Whether it was the frontier settings of The Sacketts, the Australian Outback of Quigley Down Under or the sweeping vistas of later Western productions, the locations themselves were often as memorable as the characters riding through them. Selleck wasn’t drawn exclusively to action-oriented Westerns. He was drawn to stories that immersed viewers in a world and allowed them to experience it alongside the people on screen.

As Western production slowed in Hollywood, he became increasingly vocal about missing the genre. “I hope I’m not done doing westerns, though, as they are now very hard to get off the ground. I so miss it,” he admitted. Then he explained why those projects continued to matter so much to him. “More than any other experience I’ve had in film, these movies create a sense of place.” And there’s that word again.

That appreciation found perhaps its purest expression in Monte Walsh, the 2003 television adaptation of Jack Schaefer’s celebrated novel. The story follows aging cowboys confronting a rapidly changing world, watching as the life they love slowly disappears around them. It isn’t a Western built around shootouts or spectacular action sequences. Instead, it’s a story about change, loyalty, friendship and identity.

Not surprisingly, Selleck connected with it immediately. Discussing the film, he offered a simple explanation for its appeal. “Monte Walsh is a simple morality story, as most great westerns are.” The statement is revealing because it cuts directly to what he consistently admired about the genre. Westerns, at least the ones he valued most, weren’t primarily about violence or adventure. They were about choices, responsibility and the people trying to live according to a code even when circumstances made that difficult.

Those themes appear repeatedly throughout Selleck’s comments over the years. During a discussion of his involvement with the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the Character Counts program, he highlighted six values the organization sought to promote: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. He spoke passionately about the importance of character and personal accountability, observing that “people who do the right thing tend to be self-governing and they need less laws…”

It’s difficult not to hear echoes of the Western heroes he admired in those comments. The values he described were often the same values embodied by characters such as Matthew Quigley, Conn Conagher, Rafe Covington and Monte Walsh. They weren’t perfect men; in fact, in many cases they were deeply flawed, but what mattered was that they kept trying to do the right thing.

Selleck found something especially relatable in Monte Walsh himself. Reflecting on the character years later, he offered one of the most personal observations in any of his interviews. “Because he was so dedicated and in love with the life, as I wished I could be, maybe I was born in the wrong era.”

Selleck wasn’t simply praising the character, he was expressing affection for the values Monte represented and for a way of life that had fascinated him ever since The Sacketts first introduced him to it. Even when he stepped away from traditional Westerns, those influences continued to surface in his work. Discussing the Jesse Stone films, he repeatedly emphasized character over plot. 

“Jesse is a labor of love,” he said, describing the series as “completely character driven.” He praised stories that focused on people rather than spectacle and noted that “character driven stuff is hard to find in feature films.” At another point, he suggested that Jesse Stone could easily exist in a Western setting. The clothes might change, the vehicles might replace horses and the setting might move from the frontier to modern-day New England, but the essential character remained familiar.

The same could be said for Frank Reagan on Blue Bloods. Although separated from the Old West by more than a century, Reagan’s concerns often revolved around duty, responsibility, integrity and family. The setting changed, but many of the values that attracted Selleck to Western heroes remained present. And yet, despite decades of success in other genres, Westerns never loosened their grip on him.

By 2024, Blue Bloods was ending and Selleck had spent nearly half a century building one of television’s most durable careers. He had become a household name, earned countless accolades and created a gallery of memorable characters. Still, when asked what kind of project remained on his wish list, the answer came easily.

“A good Western’s always on my list,” he said. “I miss that; I want to sit on a horse again.”

In some ways, that simple statement feels like the perfect ending to the story. The young actor who stumbled into The Sacketts in 1979 couldn’t have known where the experience would lead. He couldn’t have known he would become friends with Louis L’Amour, learn from Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens, star in beloved Westerns, develop an abiding fascination with authenticity or eventually own a ranch filled with horses. He certainly couldn’t have known that one day he would be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers.

Yet when he accepted that honor, Selleck acknowledged the journey in a way that felt characteristically humble. Speaking about the recognition, he reflected on his unlikely path from suburban Southern California to one of the highest honors in Western entertainment. “For a kid who grew up in a housing tract in Sherman Oaks, California, it’s kind of nice to be accepted in this way.”

As he wrote in You Never Know, “It’s no exaggeration to say that The Sacketts changed me.” After listening to Tom Selleck tell the story in his own words for nearly 50 years, it’s difficult to reach any other conclusion.

Google just dropped sleep tracking to $99 with no subscription required. The new Fitbit Air is the most affordable serious sleep tracker on the market right now — but a growing body of research suggests that obsessing over your sleep score could be the very thing keeping you awake. Here’s what you need to know before you buy.

Is the Fitbit Air worth it for sleep tracking?

If you want detailed sleep data without a monthly fee, it’s the most accessible option out there right now. Pre-orders opened May 7, 2026 and the device ships May 26 at $99.99 with no required subscription for core features.

Google announced the Fitbit Air with a screenless design, 7-day battery and tracking for sleep stages, heart rate variability, SpO2, skin temperature and atrial fibrillation alerts. According to Android Central, its updated algorithm is about 15% more accurate than the previous version. The screenless design means no numbers buzzing at you during the day — you see your data only when you open the app.

One important note: it’s not a medical device. If you suspect sleep apnea or another issue, the data is a starting point for a conversation with your doctor, not a diagnosis.

Aging

The Smartest Health Devices for Women 50+: What to Buy Based on Your Needs

When it comes to wearables, it’s hard to know which one is the best fit for you. The countless options, metrics and price points make choosing one feel daunting, but the decision is easier than you think!  Bob Arnot, MD, best-selling author and former chief medical correspondent for NBC News, says that wearables are revolutionizing […]

What is orthosomnia, and can sleep tracking make insomnia worse?

Yes, for some people it can — and that’s exactly what orthosomnia describes. The term was coined in 2017 by clinical psychologist Dr. Kelly Baron of the University of Utah to describe an unhealthy preoccupation with achieving perfect sleep, often triggered by consumer trackers.

A 2024 cross-sectional study in Brain Sciences found that wearable users scored significantly higher on sleep anxiety measures than non-users. A 2025 review in the Indian Journal of Sleep Medicine found that obsessive concern with tracking can paradoxically worsen sleep quality. Researchers took the issue seriously enough to publish the first validated measurement tool for it in a 2025 Frontiers in Sleep study.

The pattern is easy to fall into. You wake up feeling fine, check the app and see a low score, and suddenly you don’t feel fine anymore. That worry raises cortisol, which makes tonight’s sleep harder, which produces another bad score. The tracker becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Should you track your sleep or step back from it?

The most useful frame is this: a sleep tracker is a diagnostic tool, not a solution. It can tell you how you slept and it can’t fix why. The body’s sleep-wake cycle is regulated by light exposure, temperature and timing, not by data.

Tracking tends to help when you’re trying to identify a real pattern, like waking at the same hour every night or symptoms that could point to sleep apnea, and when the data leads to a concrete change you can actually make.

It tends to hurt when checking the app is the first thing you do each morning, when a low score colors your whole day regardless of how you actually feel, or when you’re chasing a perfect number instead of paying attention to how rested you are.

A middle path works well for many people. Check the data once a week rather than every morning, look for trends across several nights rather than single-night scores, and treat the tracker as feedback on changes you’re already making. The Fitbit Air’s screenless design supports this approach naturally — there’s nothing on your wrist nudging you to look.

What Is Circadian Lighting? This Daily Light Schedule Can Change How You Feel Everyday

That dream getaway you’ve been saving on Instagram might come with an A-list backstory. From Hugh Jackman’s qi gong sanctuary in Australia to Robert De Niro’s hideaway in TriBeCa, several Hollywood stars have quietly built — or invested in — the hospitality businesses behind some of the world’s most-talked-about wellness retreats and boutique hotels.

These aren’t vanity projects with a famous name slapped on the door. The properties reflect their owners’ personal travel preferences, design taste and approach to wellness, with the celebrities often hands-on in operations or design.

Celebrities that own wellness retreats

Hugh Jackman is a co-owner of Gwinganna Health Retreat, set inland from Queensland’s Gold Coast. Guests start the day with sunrise qi gong — a practice similar to tai chi — often held outdoors among local wallabies. Daily activities include boxing, hiking, water polo and yoga, and meals are built around clean eating, with much of the produce sourced from the retreat’s organic gardens and served on the outdoor dining deck.

Olivia Newton-John co-founded Gaia Retreat & Spa in 2005 with partners Gregg Cave, Ruth Kalnin and Warwick Evans. The 25-acre property near Byron Bay takes its name from the ancient Greek mother goddess of the earth, and offers personalized wellness packages keyed to guests’ health and fitness goals. Residential-style rooms and villas overlook the New South Wales countryside.

Life

Women Over 40 Are Leading the Solo Travel Boom

Maybe it started with an empty nest. Maybe it was a divorce, a career pivot or simply a morning when you woke up and thought: What do I actually want? Whatever sparked the feeling, you’re not imagining the pull toward solo travel—and you’re far from alone in feeling it. Why women over 40 are driving […]

“The best breakfast in the world is at Gaia,” Newton-John told Forbes in 2020. “I can tell you that. I have eaten all over the world at every fancy restaurant, and the breakfast at Gaia is the best breakfast in the world.”

Celebrities that own boutique hotels in the U.S.

Robert De Niro opened The Greenwich Hotel in TriBeCa in 2008. Its individually designed rooms draw inspiration from locations such as Manhattan, Milano and Mumbai, and guest-only access to the lounge, spa and pool keeps the focus on privacy. Designer David Rockwell built the property around De Niro’s taste, which the actor defines as “masculinity and comfort, executed with meticulous, refined craftsmanship.”

“It was a really good, collaborative project,” Rockwell said, per the hotel’s website. “Bob (De Niro) wanted the hotel to fit into the fabric of TriBeCa, so we started looking at brick treatments, among other elements.”

The hotel also houses Locanda Verde, chef Andrew Carmellini’s restaurant, which offers private dining. De Niro’s hospitality footprint extends further through the Nobu Hospitality brand.

Shopping

European Travel Brand Is Redefining Smart, Stylish Packing

Whether it’s a long-awaited family visit or a bucket-list trip, what you pack and what you pack it in matters. The right luggage can make traveling smoother, lighter and a whole lot more enjoyable. And while it’s not yet available stateside, one European luggage brand is quietly becoming a favorite among stylish, savvy travelers. Meet […]

Richard Gere owns Bedford Post Inn in Westchester County, New York, alongside ex-wife Carey Lowell and friend Russell Hernandez. The eight-room property sits about an hour from Manhattan on wooded grounds with a pool and yoga studio. The former couple discovered the vacant 1762 stone farmhouse on a horseback ride. Rooms designed by Lowell and decorator Tiffany Vassilakis feature muted interiors, fireplaces and claw-foot tubs.

Clint Eastwood purchased Mission Ranch Hotel & Restaurant in Carmel, California, in 1986 — the same year he became mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a role he held through 1988. The property is known for its rustic cottages, romantic atmosphere and tennis club.

Gloria Estefan owns Costa d’Este Beach Resort & Spa on Florida’s Vero Beach. The resort offers oceanfront accommodations, sunrise yoga, cocktails and fresh seafood, with a strong focus on beachfront relaxation and spa experiences.

Whether you’re a film buff or just love experimenting with new looks, you’ve probably come across the Sofia Coppola aesthetic. Like the Nancy Meyers or Nora Ephron-inspired styles, it draws its charm from the iconic look and mood of the director’s most beloved films, including Lost in Translation (2003), Marie Antoinette (2006), and Priscilla (2023).

If you want to bring that dreamy, cinematic vibe into your home without spending like you’re decorating an actual movie set, Dollar Tree is a surprisingly good place to start.

The discount store is packed with budget-friendly finds that can help you capture the look—from elegant drinkware to subtle, eye-catching decor pieces that feel straight out of a film scene. Keep reading to explore what the Sofia Coppola aesthetic is all about and discover the stylish Dollar Tree decor that can help you recreate it on a budget.

What is the Sofia Coppola aesthetic?

The Sofia Coppola aesthetic is all about creating a dreamy, romantic, softly feminine space. It leans into a delicate, almost cinematic mood, with pastel tones, gentle textures, and an overall feeling of effortless nostalgia. It’s often compared to the coquette style, but with a more film-inspired, slightly nostalgic twist drawn straight from Coppola’s iconic movies.

To recreate it at home, start with your color palette. Think soft pinks, baby blues, lavender, and creamy neutrals—shades that instantly make a space feel light and airy. From there, focus on maximizing natural light with sheer curtains, and layering in flowing fabrics like lace, silk, or velvet to add softness and movement.

The goal is a space that feels bright, romantic, and almost like a memory of girlhood.

Once your foundation is set, bring in playful, film-like details that feel straight out of Coppola’s world. Polaroid photos, fresh flowers, and whimsical statement pieces—like a disco ball reminiscent of Marie Antoinette—help bring personality into the space. Florals are essential, and subtle patterns like soft stripes can add just enough visual interest without overwhelming the aesthetic.

Shopping

Dollar Tree Coastal Decor Is the Perfect Way to Ward off Winter Blues

From seasonal pieces to festive favorites, Dollar Tree has long been a go-to destination for budget-friendly home decor—but this season, their charming coastal collection is making serious waves. Think breezy blues, seashell motifs, nautical touches and beach-inspired textures that instantly brighten any space. And while it may be the middle of winter, there’s actually no […]

Dollar Tree Sofia Coppola aesthetic

Pink candle holder

This pink glass candle holder is one of our favorite products from Dollar Tree and it’s perfect to nail the Sofia Coppola vibe. Not only does the color match the theme but the elegant glass design adds a fancy touch to the space. The $1.25 piece can hold your tea lights, votives and taper candles, so you can use it however suits you best.

One happy shopper shared their review of the product, writing, “Great quality and beautiful looking! For $1.25, can’t beat the aesthetic and value for these very beautiful candle holders. They are about the same quality if not better than Urban Outfitters or Target… Highly recommend for the price!”

Cool pink glasses

These drinking glasses are a stunning pink that works nicely for the Sofia Coppola aesthetic and with prices like $1.50 each, you can’t go wrong with the purchase. You can choose between the cool pink tumblers and the stemless wine glasses (or grab both for a full pink set) and enjoy your favorite beverages from them.

Whether you’re serving guests or sipping a cocktail on your patio, these glasses are just what you need to sell the aesthetic and stick to a budget.

Colorful disco balls

This disco ball is the perfect finishing touch for a Sofia Coppola-inspired space—think Marie Antoinette energy brought to life. And the best part? Dollar Tree offers a few fun, budget-friendly versions, including pink, yellow and pink-and-yellow disco balls.

At just $3, you can choose a style that fits your space, whether you want a soft pop of color or a playful mix of both.

Lightweight and decorative, this disco ball adds just the right amount of sparkle. It nods to the whimsical glamour of Marie Antoinette while standing out beautifully in an otherwise soft, feminine and airy room.

After surviving an accident, Megan Evans longed to bring comfort to others. Her idea soon turned into a worldwide movement of handwritten joy! Here, she shares her story with Woman’s World.

Megan Evans sat at home in Wickliffe, Ohio, writing cards for children at the local Ronald McDonald House.

A year earlier, Megan had survived a car crash that left her with a traumatic brain injury. Months of physical therapy followed — she had to relearn how to walk and talk.

Life

This Teacher’s Creative Pug Letter Project Is Helping Kids Learn

The sound of thrilled giggles filled the classroom as Sharon Latek passed out letters to each of her first-grade students at Wescott Elementary School in Northbrook, Illinois. The children’s faces lit up as she placed a carefully addressed envelope on each desk. It was finally “Pug Mail” delivery day. Thirty years earlier, Sharon’s husband had […]

While on the road to recovery, Megan was stamping envelopes one day when she thought, I wish I’d received more cards like this when I was at my worst.

The thought kept tugging at Megan’s heart until finally she decided to act.

“There are many campaigns to send cards to sick kids and seniors,” she posted on Facebook. “But what about the rest of us who need a few words of comfort? A reminder that someone is thinking of them?”

With that post, Megan launched a Facebook group she dubbed Random Acts of Cardness, where she invited users to share names of friends and relatives who might appreciate a kind card. The response was overwhelming.

“My cousin has a sick child—she could use some love,” wrote one member.

“My neighbor is about to celebrate her 50th anniversary,” wrote another.

Life

A Pair of Fuzzy Socks Turned Into Hope for 3,000 Women

When a neighbor gave Traci Fotorny a pair of fuzzy socks, she never dreamed the gesture would spark a mission touching thousands of women battling breast cancer! Here, she shares her story with Woman’s World. When Traci Fotorny’s neighbor knocked on her Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, door with a warm casserole, she was touched — but […]

“I love sending cards, only I rarely get the chance — at least not until now,” wrote a third happy new group member.

Megan soon found herself on the receiving end of a surprise “carding” from a friend, Rene, with the simple inscription, I’m thinking of you.

Megan’s group grew with members nominating people to receive cards and others ready to send them.

“I love sending and receiving cards,” smiles postal worker D’Anne Olson, who joined Random Acts of Cardness after learning about the group from a woman whose post box kept filling with greeting cards. “I’ve made carding friends around the world. We’re one big family.”

Sandy Hainlen has also sent thousands of cards to friends and strangers. After signing each card, Sandy uses a special hole punch to notch a heart shape into the paper.

“I keep the bits in a jar to remind me how many smiles I’ve put in the mail,” she says.

Life

She’s Legally Blind—and Has Donated 3,000 Quilts to Those in Need

Sonya Smithart, who is legally blind, learned to quilt from a TV program. Now, at 86, she has sewn and donated more than 3,000 quilts to people in need. Here, she shares her story with Woman’s World. Clutching a pad and pencil, Sonya Smithart sat close to her TV as she watched Quilt in a […]

Today, Megan leads an army of more than 12,000 card warriors sending Random Acts of Cardness to all 50 states and 37 countries in the world. Megan herself mails over 100 cards every month.

“We’re bringing something tangible into people’s lives — something touched by human hands and sent with love. It helps us know we aren’t alone.”

Is there an official Jennifer Garner Book Club? Not yet, but there probably should be! Jennifer, 54, has been a passionate reader her whole life—thanks in large part to the magical Mrs. Annyce McCann, a West Virginia school librarian. “She was my first mentor, the first person who really took an interest in me for me,” Jen shared in an O interview. 

And Mrs. McCann, who Jen still visits when she’s back home, wasn’t Jen’s only book-loving influence. Her mom, Pat, made time to read with Jen nightly (the pair took turns reading pages aloud!), a comforting habit they kept up into Jen’s tween years. It allowed the future actress, entrepreneur and mom-of-three to explore new worlds on the page while staying strongly connected to her own family. “I felt like a different person because of that,” she shared in an interview about her favorite books. So what titles are in the unofficial Jennifer Garner Book Club? Keep reading to find out.

The book that inspired a starring role

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

The tale of Hannah, a woman whose new husband mysteriously disappears, leaving her only a cryptic note reading “Protect her” — referring to his distrustful teen daughter from a previous marriage. “You can’t stop turning the pages because there is… this engine of, ’What is going to happen?’” she says. “She manages to give you a twist at the end of every chapter.” 

Jennifer was so wowed, she wrote a very persuasive letter and got herself cast as Hannah in the Apple TV+ adaptation. “I was talking about the ways that somebody can disappear on you and it can bring out the best in you,” she recently shared on the One Nightstand podcast. 

Jen’s also a fan of The First Time I Saw Him, which she called “a must-read sequel.” And both books make a nice companion to the two seasons of The Last Thing He Told Me, now streaming on Apple TV+.

The book series she’s read again and again

Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The adventures of the Ingalls family as they head to the American West barely need an introduction. “I’ve probably read the whole series 15 times, 20 times, easily,” revealed Jen, whose grandmother was born on a covered wagon and whose mom grew up on a tiny farm “back when the feed sacks for animals were made out of calico and that calico she would use to make their clothes.” 

Even after Jen’s daughter wrote a college paper pointing out harsh realities of settler life glossed over by the books, Jen still adores “the romanticism of what this family went through… to be pioneers in this beautiful, incredible country of ours.” And if you’ve also read the series before, it’s a great time to dip in again. It’ll be fresh in your mind when the new Little House series launches on Netflix in July.

The book that sparked self-discovery

The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad

Essays from 100 celebrated writers and thinkers—like Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett and John Green—are paired with writing prompts designed to help us use journaling to uncover our truest selves. Jen had completed dozens of the mini-journaling exercises before sitting down to chat with the book’s author. “The beauty is seeing what you keep repeating,” she shared with Suleika. “Eventually, you can’t help but ask, ’How can I shift this for myself?’”

Entertainment

Dolly‘s Desert Island Book Pick Will Warm Your Heart

Dolly Parton, 80, loves her family, songwriting, philanthropy, glitz, glamour—and books! That’s right! The Queen of Country has a lesser-known nickname: the Book Lady. “I mean, I must read at least about 50 books a year,” the icon told Jenna Bush Hager on her podcast, Open Book With Jenna. In addition to being a book […]

Entertainment

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The book that connects her to her mom

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Jen’s mom made her an ardent lover of this classic that follows Anne Shirley, an irrepressible red-haired orphan mistakenly sent to live with an elderly brother and sister who had requested a boy to work their Prince Edward Island farm. What unfolds is a charming coming-of-age story, as Anne wins the hearts of her reluctant guardians and an entire community with endearing proclamations like “I’m so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers” and “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet.” 

“My mom keeps it by her bed. She reads a little bit of it at night like the Bible, and she quotes it like the Bible,” Jennifer shared on One Nightstand. “I can’t even think of how many sayings from my childhood come from Anne.” 

The book she thinks is ‘perfect’

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

One of literature’s most enduring portraits of sisterhood, this beloved novel follows the four March sisters—practical Meg, fiercely independent Jo, gentle Beth and romantic Amy—as they navigate poverty, ambition, love, and loss while their chaplain dad is off tending to soldiers during the Civil War. 

“It is a perfect book,” Jen recently enthused on One Nightstand. “It has love, it has intrigue. It has the country kids doing okay. It has the missing father and the promise of him possibly appearing. It has the perfect blessed mother. It has the scare of the illness, and then it has tragedy. It has real tragedy. Is there anything more sad?” Yet it also reaffirms our faith in humanity—and there is nothing better than that.

The history book so vivid ‘you feel the fabric of their clothes’

John Adams by David McCullough

If you want history that comes to life, look no further than the late Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough. “I’ve tried to branch out and read other historians’ work, but nothing sticks with me or gets the pages turned as quickly as his books,” Jen once dished to O. “John Adams is incredibly, meticulously researched; you feel as if McCullough has gone back and felt the fabric of their clothes, smelled the paper that they wrote to each other on. It’s not only facts—you get a real sense of his subjects’ lives.”

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