The Exciting Life of 80s Icon Bo Derek

After Mary turned 18, she and John returned to the United States. She adopted the name Bo Derek, creating the short, memorable identity that would soon appear in movie credits, magazines, and publicity campaigns around the world.

Bo married John in Las Vegas in 1976, when she was 19 and he was 49. Their relationship now became both a legal marriage and a creative partnership, with John guiding many of her professional choices. Yet joining his established family created another unusual situation, because his children were not younger than their new stepmother.