Former model and star of TNT’s new police drama Rizzoli & Isles, Angie Harmon has the brains to match the beauty.
She talks motherhood, the importance of laughter and being renewed for a second season after only three episodes!
by bonnie siegler • photography by elisabeth caren
assisted by shane o’donnell and liz bretz
styling by jessica paster for celestine agency
hair by john francis for solo artists • makeup by spencer barnes for solo artists
shoot on location at the mark for events
Not only has Angie Harmon proven there’s dramatic life after professional modeling, she has also shown there is a powerful woman inside this Texas-reared beauty. Best known for her role as Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael on Law & Order, Harmon went on to other big and small screen roles in The Women’s Murder Club and now on TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles as Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli who teams up with a medical examiner to track down the bad guys. However being one half of this TV duo is only part of Harmon’s real life story. She is married to former New York Giants football player Jason Sehorn and has three daughters (Finley Faith, 7; Avery Grace, 5; and Emery Hope, 18 months).
Showing how tough and physical a lady can be on and off screen, the 39-year-old busy working mom says, “Women are powerful, powerful beings. We do so many things and it’s not like we get thanked everyday, we just don’t,” she flatly states in her husky voice still lilting with a tinge of Southern proprietary. “When people say we multi-task, there should be a better word; what comes to mind when I hear that is, ‘Okay I’m driving a stick shift, talking on the phone and digging through something on the front seat.’ No! When we multi-task we are cooking dinner, we’re helping in homework, we’re planning events for the next week, we’re putting a birthday party together. There is so much to being a woman and it’s a thankless job… To be able to just get through the day and handle everything in stride and move on, that’s really impressive to me. That’s what I mean when I talk about us being powerful because we are!” Yet when asked what her biggest personal triumph might be, she immediately responds, “My marriage and my children – my home life is my biggest personal triumph. There is no handbook on how to raise kids – to make sure they turn out lovely, decent, strong, kind human beings so there’s the constant challenge in trying to do it right.”
Three children and two dogs always makes for a busy household, however Harmon just moved 3,000 miles away from bustling Hollywood only to settle in North Carolina. “It just is where we feel most at home,” she explains of her cross-country move. “We just wanted our girls to have a slower growing up process.” On a regular basis you’ll find Angie getting the girls breakfast, brushing hair and teeth and taking the two older ones to school. “I’ll work out with my girlfriends and I just started doing that again.” Always one to enjoy physical activity and outdoor challenges, Angie was sidelined last year with a painful herniated disc that limited her mobility. “The first time I did this to my back was when I was pregnant with Finley. Then the same exact thing happened right after we moved into this house. I’m not the kind of person who can sit around the couch and just point and tell people what to do. I’ve got to get in there so I tore L-4, and L-5 was bulging. Anyone with a back injury knows it hurts unbelievably.” Unable to do her usual physical activities was unnerving for Harmon who admits she gained seven pounds on her long and lean toned body just prior to the holiday season. “So how was I going to eat pumpkin pie?” she laughs. “Today I did a bit of Tae Bo Boot Camp but I’m taking it slowly so it’s a lot of stretches, no heavy lifting, no twisting movements… I mean it really changes your life in what you’re limited in doing physically.” Angie doesn’t underestimate the power of just five minutes in movement. “If I just have a few minutes in my day I’ll throw in one of my workout DVDs and just pick an area to work on. Maybe one day it’s abs, another legs. After just doing five minutes, I feel pretty solid and strong. I’m a pretty physical person and enjoy the hell out of life so I’ve had to make small adjustments. But hey, if the doctors told me to stand on my head and sing Jesus Loves Me, I would do it to help the pain.”
Harmon laughs, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth and deep dimples. “Oh gosh,” she smiles, “I think laughter is a necessity in life. You’re so appreciative of a girlfriend saying something hilarious and you just die laughing. It’s a necessary achievement in life and not just a light ha-ha-ha, but a really gutsy laugh that comes from down deep in the knees. It makes life less complicated.” Angie is not opposed to getting her own goofy going on in the house. “Just last week, we were watching The Little Mermaid again and I started singing and dancing to all the songs.”
As a former professional model who got her first cover at age 15 and travelled the world on assignments, Harmon is keenly aware of the importance of good nutrition for total health and energy. She adheres to a pretty clean eating plan, consisting of organic fresh foods as much as possible – with an occasional Peppermint Patty – and supplementing her intake with vitamins and minerals twice a day. The self-described “energetic, courageous and insecure” woman also knows that discovering her recharge button is important. “When I cook dinner, that’s a recharge for me”, Angie shares. “It’s very therapeutic. There’s music going on – Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum – lots of chopping and dicing.” Throughout the day she feeds her energy reserves with a banana or protein bar. “It has to be something good for me and not just empty calories or I’m just going to feel awful in 30 minutes. Sometimes if I’m really not feeling up to par, I’ll go get acupuncture.” Harmon does allow herself some “me” time to relax and rejuvenate, though it’s not as often as she’d like. “It’s been a while for me,” she laughs. “I mean it usually happens after I put the girls down and I get on my iPad to look through websites. Or I’ll get out a book.” When away from home such as in Los Angeles where she films Rizzoli & Isles, things are a bit different.
“The first thing I’ll do when I’m out of town is get a massage, order room service and watch movies the whole time I’m in the hotel. I’ve discovered scents and how they interact with me. A nice relaxing bath filled with lavender scents is always nice while citrus and orange scents help re-energize me.”
As beautiful as Harmon is on the outside, it’s the internal care she strives to give herself that reinforces her overall well-being, though she admits balancing out the emotional, physical and spiritual sides of life is a constant challenge. “If I knew the answer and how-to for that, I’d be a bizillionaire and I’m not,” she laughs in her husky tone. “I think even men are looking for the answer to that. I’m more a wing-it type person who listens to her body, her psyche and emotions.” While Harmon’s life can be in flux with her move to North Carolina and juggling work and home life, there is a constant – playing Roses and Thorns. “We play that every single night at dinner,” she explains. “Someone picks if they want to do roses first or thorns. Your rose is the best thing that happened to you all day and your thorn is the worst thing. It’s great when one of them turns to me and says `I don’t have a thorn today, Mommy.” Upon reflection, Angie continues, “Yesterday my rose was finally beginning to put all of my things in the closet because we just finished construction on that area of the house. My worst thing was I lost track of time so dinner was a little late but it wasn’t my fault,” she hastens to add “Jason forgot he was supposed to order out and it came to 6:30 when he said ‘so where we going to eat?’ Well, we were going to eat out but now we’re going to find what’s in the fridge. So we had fish sticks, green beans and seasoned cabbage. It wasn’t my greatest accomplishment, but I got it all done in 15 minutes.”
– Special thanks to the Mark For Events for the location.
