Most of us know Teri Hatcher as Wisteria Lane’s hopeless romantic and lovable klutz – Susan Delfino. In reality, though, Hatcher isn’t as sweet (according to her fellow housewives). She’s been called a bully, a loner, and a diva. So, what’s the real deal with this controversial starlet? As it turns out, she went through A LOT as a kid, and it’s only in recent years that she’s been able to come to terms with her past.
After reading this article, you might get a clearer picture of why Teri was more or less shunned by her fellow Housewives. And while we don’t know enough about the feud to really justify Hatcher’s behavior, we do know that living through such a traumatic childhood has its repercussions.
For years, Teri lived in shame. Thankfully, she’s brave enough today to speak up.
She Was Abused by Her Uncle
Teri Hatcher spent most of her life trying to hide a dark family secret. Until, finally, she realized that brushing it off was making it impossible for her to heal. So, in 2006, she got candid about her experiences and gave Vanity Fear the intimate details of her troublesome family history.
Her family lived in Sunnyvale California, in a home close to her aunt and her aunt’s husband, a man named Richard Hayes Stone. At the age of five, Richard began sexually abusing her. “These are haunting things I’ve remembered all my life,” Teri revealed, “I feel such shame because it felt like I was special […] but at the same time you know it’s wrong.”
The Torment Continued
Over the next couple of years, her uncle’s abuse persisted, right under her parents’ noses. “The last time I saw him, I think I was eight or nine, my mom invited them over to the house for dinner, and I went ballistic,” Teri recalled.
She explained that her mom was confused about her reaction, but “that was when her instincts kicked in.” Teri’s mother removed her from the family dinner, but never sat down to ask her what had happened. “Nobody wanted to talk about it,” Teri told Vanity Fair, adding, “All I did was blame myself. It was something I tried to bury completely.”
She Wasn’t Richard’s Only Victim
In 2003, Teri learned a startling truth: She wasn’t her uncle’s only victim. The actress told Vanity Fair that her mom once approached her with newspaper clippings and said, “Oh by the way, I found these.” Through the newspaper bits, she found that Richard had been “arrested and charged with three counts of sexual molestation.”
News broke of his crimes after a 14-year-old victim took her life. “I just couldn’t believe it,” Teri admitted, “I kind of freaked out. It struck me so strongly that — oh my god, he’s been doing this for 35 years!”
He’s Behind Bars Thanks to Teri
Richard was arrested, but due to gaps and petty issues in California state law, it looked like his case would be dismissed. Terrified by the fact that Stone might be a free man again, Teri decided to come forward and testify. She knew that meant going public with the story but felt like it was the right thing to do.
“I knew he would not have gone to prison if I hadn’t come forward,” she told the media. Her testimony led to Richard pleading guilty and eventually being sentenced to 14 years in jail. Ultimately, sharing her story was the right thing to do.
Her Childhood Traumas Haunted Her
Following her uncle’s sentencing, Teri was able to begin her healing process. She told Vanity Fair she was satisfied when he plead guilty: “[…] that made me feel really validated. It made me feel that I wasn’t crazy,” she explained.
She shared that victims usually have a tendency to doubt themselves, “Am I just crazy? Did I make all this up?” She added that thinking it’s all in your head makes it somewhat easier to accept. But despite the validation, Teri’s fear never really vanished. “I still have trouble embracing that he really is in jail and staying there,” she admitted.
Did Her Mom Add to Her Low Self-Esteem?
Teri Hatcher’s distressing childhood experiences seriously impacted her sense of self-worth and confidence, but as she told Oprah on her talk show, her mom also added to her already low self-esteem. “My mom was very self-sacrificing,” Teri explained.
Seeing her mom give up on herself for others “to a bad point,” taught Teri to do that as well. “She just never took anything good for herself, and that was kind of my role model and sort of what I ended up doing,” she confessed.
Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life
Her mom’s self-sacrificing nature inspired the title of her 2006 autobiography, Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life. Teri revealed that the title was a reference to eating the scraps in life, the burnt toast – “I take what is last, and I learned that from my mother.”
Putting everyone else above her came to an end in Teri’s ’40s. She decided that she didn’t want to live like this anymore, claiming that “there has to be a balance between taking everything for yourself or taking nothing.” Nowadays, Hatcher feels a lot more in tune with her needs.
Is Teri Hatcher Married?
Teri Hatcher’s love life hasn’t been the best. Her first marriage to Markus Leithold ended after just eight months, and her second “I do” wasn’t a whole lot better. She married actor Jon Tenney, whom she met on a blind date, and while they lasted for several years, it got to a point where Teri felt like “a walking zombie.”
Hatcher revealed it was an empty marriage that lasted way too long. And despite welcoming a beautiful daughter in 1997, no kid could really patch up their crumbling relationship. When she filed for divorce in 2003, she felt she was finally “getting away from a husband who I felt was never around anyway.”
Their Lack of Intimacy Was a Major Issue
Hatcher put herself through a lot of torture staying with Jon for that long. Out of all their issues, their main one was a lack of intimacy, which caused her to feel undesirable and useless. She told Vanity Fair that she knew “exactly when Emerson was conceived, because [they] had sex once that year, on Valentine’s Day.”
The actress added that the two weren’t even intimate on their honeymoon! Hatcher shared that, from the get-go, their marriage was more of a friendship than a romantic, lustful love story. Thankfully, Hatcher did what was right for her and was brave enough to walk away.
A Diva-Like Bond Girl
Teri Hatcher had a great time playing in all four seasons of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and just as the series went off the air in 1997, she landed another incredible role – Bond Girl. She was cast in Tomorrow Never Dies and Paris Carver.
But the film received bad reviews, and, as it turns out, the filming of the movie wasn’t too great as well. Her co-star, Pierce Brosnan, told Vanity Fair Italia that Teri was “always keeping me waiting for hours. I must admit I let slip a few words which weren’t very nice.”
Her Never-Ending Divorce
When Teri and Jon ended things in 2003, they agreed that their daughter, Emerson Rose, would live with Teri but that the two would share custody of her. And while the plan on paper seemed to sit well with the duo, things weren’t as smooth sailing in reality.
Teri kept dealing with custody issues for years, with TMZ dubbing their ordeal a “never-ending divorce.” The magazine noted that the couple was going to court time and again to sort out things like who would Emerson spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with.
An Overwhelming Sense of Rage
What upset Hatcher the most in all of their visits to court was that, under California’s law, she had to split all of her assets with her ex. She wrote in her memoir: “Worse than feeling like a failure … there was an overwhelming sense of rage at having to pay my way out of the situation.”
During that time, Hatcher viewed her life in such a negative light, writing “I had no marriage, a deeply diminished bank account, and no career.” She grew bitter over the fact that she supported her husband financially all those years and, eventually, spent most of her earnings on trying to keep the marriage afloat.
Desperate Drama
After years of trying to make it big, Teri finally landed the role that would catapult her into the limelight for good – her part as Susan Mayer on the series Desperate Housewives. But rather than having the time of her life on set, Teri was apparently busy getting into fights with her fellow housewives.
When the leading cast landed a photoshoot with Vanity Fair in 2005, an ABC rep who accompanied the girls to the shoot told Vanity Fair that working with Teri was a nightmare. The day somehow ended with Hatcher bawling her eyes out and Marcia Cross storming off the set.
Dubbed “The Meanest Woman in the World”
In 2012, Desperate Housewives’ creator, Marc Cherry, shared that Nicollette Sheridan had once lashed out at Hatcher, calling her the “meanest woman in the world.” As if that wasn’t harsh enough, that same year, another housewife, Eva Longoria, said that “Teri was just a loner.”
It looks like none of the girls got along with Hatcher, which would explain why she was left out of the group present they gave the show’s crew members once the series wrapped up. “The girls don’t get along with Teri, so they organized this and left her out,” an insider from the production crew told Celebuzz.
A Mysterious Illness
In 2011, Teri revealed that she had been going through a tough time with a little-known health problem that was causing her severe pain. She had been struggling with a condition called frozen shoulder, which basically made it impossible for her to move her left arm.
The pain was so debilitating that she claimed she “wasn’t even able to pick up a bag.” She treated the issue with cortisone shots and was even considering surgery. Despite the frustration, Teri kept her chin up high and remained optimistic about the whole thing: “I believe things happen for a reason and this has really helped me get better at asking for help, defining priorities and enjoying all the things I can do.”
She Became “The Other Woman”
In 2014, stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay spilled the beans about an alleged affair he had with Teri. He shared the details in his memoir titled The Filthy Truth, where he wrote about how the two of them had an instant attraction, which lead to a steamy phone sex session, and later, to an actual get-together.
Clay reportedly found himself in Hatcher’s hotel room one night, and although they didn’t get physical, the comedian stated that her moans were “delicious” and that by the time the session was over, “she was completely satisfied.” The problem with this story is that Clay was married at the time, and he found out his wife was pregnant a little after he and Teri whispered words of lust into each other’s ears.
He Felt Guilty About the Affair
Clay, who had been to married Kathleen Monica since 1992, said he felt guilty about his affair with Teri, but, still, he didn’t feel THAT guilty because a few days later, the duo met up again. This time, they made out. “The lovemaking was out of this world,” he wrote.
After their hot evening, they vowed never to see each other again. A short while later, Clay discovered that his wife, Kathleen, was pregnant. Clay remained with his wife for a decade and ended up having two sons together.
She Keeps Getting Her Heart Broken
Teri Hatcher told The Mirror that she hadn’t gone on a date for two whole years, because she was “scared” of “the possibility of someone breaking [her] heart.” And, tragically, when she finally mustered up the courage to put herself out there, that’s precisely what happened.
In her book Burnt Toast, the actress shared: “I never thought I’d be [over] 40 and have no one to go to dinner with, nor someone who loves me and whom I trust, but here I am.” She got into detail about several of her questionable relationships, including one with an already taken millionaire and another with a lawyer who offered her $50,000 so she would tag along with him to a convention.
She Blames Herself for Her Dating Failures
As if feelings of loneliness and disappointment aren’t enough, Teri also tends to blame herself for all of her failed relationships. “I have so much pain,” the actress told Vanity Fair, “This pain of feeling like it’s your fault, and not knowing how to solve the problem…”
She described those feelings of guilt as being “a really familiar pattern to me in my life.” She told the magazine that she often finds herself in a cycle of not being able to “give yourself a break” and “of constantly finding an avenue to punish yourself.”
No More Marriages
The actress has vowed never to marry again, choosing instead to dedicate herself to motherhood, and putting her focus on providing a stable home for her daughter, Emerson. Despite not wanting to walk down the aisle again, Teri admitted she still totally believes in monogamy.
Nowadays, she thinks things through before bringing a man home to meet Emerson. “I’m not a dater,” she once stated, “I need to be safe and trusting and do not believing in rotating men through the house. It would take a lot before I would want to bring a man into my daughter’s life.”
She Was a Cheerleader
Yup, Teri Hatcher was one of those fun, glossy ladies hopping up and down on the sidelines, cheering on the team. In her case, she cheered for the San Francisco’s 49ers back in their glory days, way back when the Niners were still serious contenders for the NFL crown.
Back in the ‘80s, their cheerleaders were known as the Gold Rush Girls.
In 1983, the 49ers finished 15-1 and made it to the Super Bowl XIX to play against the Miami Dolphins. The 49ers won. And Hatcher cheered them along the way!
She Broke Two Ribs on the Set of Desperate Housewives
Teri suffered traumatic injuries on the set of Housewives. Not only was she struggling mentally, fighting with her co-stars on a weekly basis, but she was also hurting physically. The accident happened when she was pole dancing for one of the show’s episodes.
Apart from that disastrous fall, Teri also suffered an eye injury when a ceiling lightbulb broke and several shards fell right into her eye, scratching the skin surrounding it as well as a bit of the eye itself. Miraculously, she healed from it all and kept on working like a boss!
She’s Appeared in Every Episode of Desperate Housewives
Teri is one of the three actors who appeared in every single episode of the show. That’s a whole lot of dedication to put into a series that ran for eight seasons and has enough episodes to fill in a lifetime or work! But in the name of entertainment, Teri made her way to the set without thinking twice.
Teri confessed that she’s like that with every project she undertakes. She’s consistent, hard-working, and diligent. The three other actors who haven’t missed a day’s work on the set of Housewives are her partners in crime, Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo), Marcia Cross (Bree Van De Kamp), and Eva Longoria (Gabrielle Solis).
Every Magazine Cover She’s Done Has Been Airbrushed
We’re assuming that people know that the photos they see in magazine covers aren’t exactly authentic. Teri, like many other celebs, has taken part in this airbrush parade. Magazines like their celebs spotless, young, pretty, even-skinned and perfect.
Despite having her photos touched up and messed with, Hatcher has spoken out largely about the issue so that her fans wouldn’t think that this was her natural look. The last thing she wants is for people to aspire to look like something that’s unrealistic.
She’s Been Named One of the World’s Sexiest Women
Teri was undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous women to grace the screens back in the days. She was able to use her good looks to her advantage, but as the years went by, her popularity took a dive. For a while there, the world stopped hearing about her (until her Housewife comeback).
Now that she’s no longer her younger self, Teri admits that she doesn’t feel quite as sexy, but she feels a lot more comfortable in her skin, which is, admittedly, a much better feeling than feeling picture perfect. Growing older has taught Teri several lessons. We’re glad to see she’s developed a positive outlook on life’s constant flux.
A Pancake Crisis
According to one source close to Desperate Housewives’ production, Teri Hatcher once caused a serious crisis when she was asked to shoot a scene where her character, Susan (who was pregnant), chows down on a stack of pancakes.
Not wanting to scarf down all those carbs, the actress insisted that there be blueberries on the pancakes so she could nibble on those instead. The crew was impatient and refused to give in to her demand. But Hatcher wasn’t willing to give up. She cried and complained until she eventually won the showdown.
A Problematic Cast Member
Eva Longoria spoke up about her early days on the set as a newcomer in Hollywood. She revealed that she had been bullied on the set by a co-worker. “I dreaded the days I had to work with that person because it was pure torture,” she stated.
Similarly, the show’s writer, Marc Cherry, spoke about a “problematic cast member,” stating that the person had serious behavioral issues that made it impossible for the rest of the cast to get along with them. According to Cherry, the person decided to no longer speak to her cast members, only to the show’s directors.
Hmmm… we wonder who this problematic cast member might be.
A YouTube Comeback
In 2019, Teri worked her way back into the mainstream once again, this time as a YouTube sensation. She opened a channel called Hatching Change, dedicated to cooking, wellness, and motherhood. Her channel features a bunch of delicious homemade videos with valuable tips.
Hatching Change hasn’t been updated in more than a year, but if you haven’t visited her channel before, it’s worth a glimpse! She has nearly 20,000 subscribers and has every recipe you could possibly long for – from crafty Halloween ravioli to cheery cherry pie.
An Incredible Salary Leap
During the show’s first season, Teri Hatcher earned $70,000 per episode. But by the time Desperate Housewives came back for Season number Two, she was making a whopping $285,000! That’s an insane leap for any working actor.
In later seasons, Teri was making around $400,000 per episode, which meant that she was raking in a little more than $9 million per season. Her hefty salary on the Housewives made her one of the highest-paid stars on TV.
Nothing but Superman’s Cape
A sexy snap of Hatcher wearing nothing but Superman’s scarlet cape was downloaded from the web more than 20,000 times back in 1995. She was pleased by the flattering craze and said at the time: “It’s a great shot. Not so much because it’s me. It’s just cool-looking.”
The picture was taken during her run in ABC’s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. At the height of the show’s popularity, she wrapped herself in Superman’s cape and posed for the camera. It became the most downloaded image on the internet for a few good months.
“They’re Real, and They’re Spectacular”
For fans of Seinfeld, Teri isn’t a Desperate Housewife, she’s a gorgeous lady who refers to her two girls as “real and spectacular.” As it turns out, the famous line was invented on the spot by Larry David. “I don’t think it was the original script; I’m pretty sure he just came up with it on the spot,” the actress told Vanity Fair.
Teri starred on three of the show’s episodes – The Implant, The Pilot and The Finale. The star joked that the infamous line would most likely be engraved on her tombstone: “Teri Hatcher: She Was a Great Mom, and They’re Real, and They’re Spectacular!”
She Studied Mathematics and Engineering
Teri was born in Palo Alto, California, but was raised in Sunnyvale. As a kid, she took ballet and kept dancing all through her childhood. She was a dedicated dancer and an even more dedicated student, majoring in mathematics and engineering at De Anza College.
Acting came at a later stage in her life. When she decided to take on the art, she studied it at the American Conservatory Theater. And her first role was as Amy on the TV show Love Boat. She played a mermaid showgirl who could dance and sing and swim.
The Cast’s Magical Chemistry
In an interview with The Daily Mail, Teri Hatcher stated that what made the show so great, apart from the incredible writing, acting, and directing, was the four leading ladies’ (Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman and herself) “magical chemistry.”
The media wasn’t pleased with her amicable remark and pushed her to talk about the difficulties on set, to which she responded, “[I] have never ever wished any of them anything but greatness and will continue to do that.” Yeah, they weren’t pleased with that remark either.
How Old Is Teri Hatcher?
As of today (2021), Hatcher is 56. She looks great, feels great, and is happy with where she’s at. She’s grown to be more forgiving towards herself and has learned to balance her career and personal life. She isn’t embarrassed to post photos of herself in a bikini, nor is she embarrassed to post a snapshot of her graying hair.
Posting pictures of herself in a two-piece wasn’t to flaunt or brag about her incredible figure for no good reason. She did it to encourage other women to take care of their bodies, regardless of their age. “The anti-inflammatory diet, I think, is empowering — cutting out alcohol, or at least not making it your go-to reward at the end of every day and finding something different.”
The Vanity Fair Drama
When Vanity Fair decided to feature the four Desperate Housewives on their May 2005 cover – all hell broke loose. Apparently, Teri told the shoot’s stylist exactly how she wanted to look and where she wanted to be positioned. Unfortunately, her demands weren’t part of the general plan.
An ABC rep who accompanied the girls to the shoot said that they received a message from Eva Longoria stating, “Everything is NOT fine.” When the girls finally lined up for the shoot, Hatcher marched on to the set in a red swimsuit that Marcia Cross was planning to wear, causing poor Marcia to storm off in tears.
Homeless and Suicidal?
In 2018, Teri was busy shooting content for her YouTube channel out of a van. She was filming a drive-by for her show, commuting to different areas and exploring different sceneries. But, to one’s surprise, the paparazzi caught her by the van and used the photos to come up with a ridiculous story.
“They said they were going to run this story about me being broke — and I think they used the word ‘suicidal’ and ‘homeless’ and whatever,” Teri told The Hollywood Gossip. Obviously, Teri’s reps fought back and said that their claims were beyond preposterous. Teri has many homes all over the country. And she’s worth about $50 million so… yeah.
Alone, but Not Lonely
“There is a difference between being lonely and being alone,” Teri told People Magazine, “I have been single for a very long time, but there is nothing lonely about my life. I want to remove the stigma of that.” She added that she believes many divorced women are not “just surviving alone,” but they’re thriving.
She believes she has many things to be proud of, and that the world doesn’t have to revolve around relationships and romances. “It’s liberating to care about the things that are important to you and not about the things that aren’t important to you,” she claimed, adding that her daughter Emerson is her main source of pride.
Her Incredibly Vulnerable Letter to Trump
In 2018, following the #MeToo movement and in order to empower more girls to come forward, the actress shared an open letter to then-president Donald Trump, recalling the moment she was sexually abused during a car ride with her uncle.
“Here’s what I remember: His erect penis, that he was stroking as he sat behind the wheel of the car. ‘Do you want to touch it?’ he asked. I said, ‘No.’ But he took my hand to touch it anyway,” she wrote, adding that she was forcefully positioned with her face on the seat and violated.
She’s a Smart Spender
Despite her wealth, Teri sees herself as a relatively conservative person who leads a simple life. In 2005, she admitted to driving the same car for 10 years. “To me, feeling comfortable means having way more than I need in the bank.”
She would rather spend her money on experiences than on flashy new things like luxurious cars or massive mansions. “I don’t spend my money on sports cars or new million-dollar houses,” she explains, “But being able to go on the trip of a lifetime is pretty special.”