Cheryl Ladd is looking back at her time on Charlie’s Angels and revealing how her frustration with her on-screen wardrobe led her to take a bold stand. Speaking at PaleyFest L.A., where the cast gathered to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary, Ladd shared that she grew increasingly annoyed at being repeatedly dressed in bikinis during filming.
Cheryl Ladd reveals why she donned ‘tiniest bikini’ on ‘Charlie’s Angels’ set
The actress, now 74, joined the hit series in 1977 as Kris Munroe, stepping into the role as the younger sister of Farrah Fawcett’s character after her departure. “He liked me in a bikini,” she said of producer Aaron Spelling. Ladd acknowledged she grew frustrated with having to repeatedly wear two-piece outfits in scenes, saying it began to “p— me off.”
Speaking at the panel, she recalled deciding to take a different approach. “I thought, ‘OK, how am I going to get out of this?'” Ladd said, adding that she ultimately purchased what she described as the “tiniest little bikini ever seen on television at that point.”
The move didn’t go unnoticed by the production team. She said she soon heard that Spelling wasn’t pleased. “At first, somebody came and told me Aaron said, ‘Tell the little troublemaker she’s never going to do that again,'” Ladd shared. And she didn’t repeat the stunt.
But for Cheryl Ladd, the point had already been made. After that, Ladd said, any time she appeared in a swimsuit, it was something she felt comfortable wearing. Her co-star Jaclyn Smith even joked during the panel, “Well, our ratings went up!”
The trio also took a moment to reflect on the legacy of Charlie’s Angels and remember Farrah Fawcett, who died in 2009 after battling cancer. Looking back, Smith said she feels proud of what the show achieved and the lasting impact it continues to have.
