Tom Selleck 'Apologized' to Princess Diana for His Lack of Skills When They Danced Together in 1985: 'She Was Gracious'
Tom Selleck is sharing a few never-before-heard details about his night with Princess Diana!
In his new memoir, the actor explained he was invited to the 1985 White House Dinner, but since he was filming Magnum P.I. in Hawaii at the time, he wasn't sure if he would attend.
However, the Friends alum, 79, changed his mind when he learned that the late royal's personal guest list only included three celebs: himself, Clint Eastwood and John Travolta.
Selleck recounted how as he and Eastwood stood in a corner, they watched as the Grease lead, 70, took Diana for a twirl — but suddenly, a woman approached the Blue Bloods actor and told him he should ask for a dance so that people wouldn't start rumors that Diana and Travolta were have an affair.
Selleck confessed he sternly told the lady, "'I'M NOT CUTTING IN ON JOHN TRAVOLTA!'"
In the end, he let the pair have one more dance before he did step in. admitting to a magazine that he was "starstruck" by the princess, who passed away in 1996.
Selleck recalled how he "apologized" to Diana for not being a great dancer, explaining in the interview, "Look, I skipped cotillion. There was called something called cotillion as kids; they taught you how to dance and manners and everything else. My older brother went, and used to come home and say 'I hated it.'"
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"So as the younger brother, I managed to skip it, but then all I could do dancing was box step like we did in high school dances, a box step and a dip. And I wasn't about to dip with Princess Di!" the Emmy winner quipped. "So I just talked. But she was very gracious and obviously had learned the skill of dealing with people and relaxing. It was certainly memorable."
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"She was gracious. She was also, by the way, having the time of her life. She really seemed to be having a good time. And then in retrospect, that was nice to [see]," he continued.
"The prince danced with my wife, who's a Brit. And he asked her for a second dance, so that was pretty neat for Jillie," he said of King Charles.
Travolta has also dished on his experience grooving with the mother-of-two.
"About 10 o'clock at night, Nancy Reagan tapped on my shoulder and said, 'The princess, her fantasy is to dance with you. Would you like to dance with her tonight?' And I said, 'Well of course,'" the movie star recalled.
"It was a storybook moment," he raved in an interview. "We bowed when it was over, and, you know, she was off, and I was off, and my carriage turned into a pumpkin."
Town & Country spoke to Selleck about his memoir.