Late Actress Raquel Welch’s Amazing Untold Story: From Divorced Mother to ‘Sexiest Woman’ Alive

After being asked to pose for Playboy “no less than 57 times,” by her count, Raquel Welch agreed to a photo shoot in 1979 in which she wore a blue bikini bottom and covered her chest with her arms. She “came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off,” gushed Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

Raquel never believed in her sex symbol image, but she remained forever grateful to the fur bikini she wore in 1966’s One Million Years B.C. “It made my whole career,” said the actress, who died on February 15 at age 82. In truth, it was more than just the bikini. In the prehistoric set film, Raquel’s athletic body and windblown mane made elaborately coiffed bombshells like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth seem positively old-fashioned. “Always be true to yourself, your purpose, your attitude, your feeling,” Raquel said. “And be yourself.”

Raised in Southern California by middle class parents — her Bolivian-born dad was an aeronautical engineer — Jo Raquel Tejada was a cheerleader, a beauty pageant queen and graduated high school with honors and a college scholarship. “My father was very tough on me,” recalled the star, who spent her formative years trying to win his approval. “There were times when I disliked him quite a lot, but I wanted to please him.”

Teenage love took her in another direction when Raquel wed her high school boyfriend, James Welch, in 1959. In just five years, she’d become a divorced mother of two small children working as a model and cocktail waitress to get by. A fortunate meeting with Hollywood agent Patrick Curtis, who would become her second husband, in 1967, helped Raquel break into movies. “To have it said that you’re a sex symbol, the most beautiful girl in the world, is initially terrific,” she admitted. Still, it took time for Raquel to relax into the role. “I felt like I was supposed to be perfect,” she said. “And because everybody was looking at me so hard, I felt there was so much to prove.”

The critics never loved her, but Raquel carved out a niche for herself by pivoting from comedy to drama in films and on TV. In her decades on screen, she never filmed a completely nude scene. “I reserve some things for my private life, and they are not for sale,” said the actress. 

Inspired by Frank Sinatra, who was a friend, Raquel began singing and dancing in her own Las Vegas nightclub act, in 1973. Eight years later, she took her first bow on Broadway in Woman of the Year. “The first minute I stepped out on that stage and the people began applauding, I just knew I’d beaten every bad rap that people had hung on me,” she said.

Divorced four times, Raquel often said she never got marriage “right,” but she had no regrets. “I had real feelings for all of them. At the time, I thought it was love and we could make a great life, but it wasn’t in the cards,” said the star, who came to realize that she didn’t need a man. “I like what I do,” she said. “I actually enjoy being me, and I make a good living at it. I’m happy.”