| THE SWEET LIFE WITH JUDI EVANS |
| by Marla Deborah Cukor (SOU 3/22/94) |
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You're in Judi's country now. "It's like being in another world," says ANOTHER WORLD's Paulina as she looks out the panoramic window of the "country" ranch she shares with her husband of four months, CNBC cameraman Mike Luciano. The two lovebirds have made their nest in a home they rent in a posh suburban community a few minutes outside of New York City, but miles away from civilization. "It's really relaxing here and that's what we wanted. We both have hectic jobs, but you come here and you're away from everything. There's no crime in, this town. Not too many robberies around here. Mostly the police give out a lot of speeding tickets. "It's really like living in the country ," Judi says as she gives us a mini-tour of the grounds. The flagstone patio is covered with snow, and the fishing pond in the backyard has iced over, but the beauty of her home is unmistakable. Large windows grace almost every room, making the house a nature lover's sanctuary. The couple often sees squirrels, raccoons, birds and even deer frolicking in their backyard. "Michael saw one (a deer) from the bedroom," she says. "It was Saturday morning, and he woke me up and was like, 'Judi, Judi, look at this.' We just watched the deer out the window for a half hour. It was amazing." What does she love most about her home? "The privacy and the quietness. We deal with so much stuff at work, it makes it just a nice, quite-country feeling." Their house sits at the top of a hill, on a quiet cul-de-sac. There are no neighbors within earshot. "We have the slum house in the neighborhood," jokes Judi, who says the mansion up the street (selling for a cool $2.5 million) is really her "dream" house. She's only kidding. In fact, this good-natured actress is very rarely caught without a joke or two up her sleeve. A gracious hostess, she offers the SOU crew overflowing platters of cheese, crackers and fresh fruits as soon as they enter her spacious kitchen. When Judi discovers that today is the birthday of one of the magazine's crew members, she gives the birthday boy a chocolate "Ho-Ho" and promptly sings Happy Birthday (in key, may we add). Just like a mountain cabin hideaway, there's a cozy fireplace in the bedroom, and a woodburning stove in the living room. "We've made hot chocolate on it (the woodburning stove)," she says; "we tried to make Jiffy Pop, but it didn't work." If you look carefully, you can see traces of Judi's past lives everywhere in this home. There's an Emmy on the mantel, which she won when playing Beth on GUIDING LIGHT. An exquisite Erte plate sits on display in a cabinet ("That's from my first marriage," she whispers.) There's a glass table in the living room that was shipped over from Judi's old home in California, where she lived while playing the tormented Adrienne on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Also on the mantel is a crystal horse head, which was a gift from Judi's father-in-law. The piece has special meaning to Judi and her husband. "I was with my horse at a stable when we met the first time," she says. "We just talked for about 15 minutes. We never saw each other again after that. Then, seven years later, we were both at a club and we saw each other from across the room." Did she remember him from that encounter? No. "I started to go ask him to dance and I chickened out. My girlfriend was like, 'You? Chicken out?' So finally I tapped him on the shoulder, said, 'Wanna dance?' and ran for the dance floor hoping he would follow, and he did," she says. After their dance, Mike told Judi he remembered meeting her at the stables, which leads her to believe that their coupling was written in the stars. "It was fate, and it has worked out great. We really feel like we weren't destined then, but we were destined later. We both had to go through a lot of life first." Their November 20th wedding was an intimate affair held in their backyard. The bride wore black. "Mike built a platform overlooking the pond," Judi beams, clearly very much in love with her handsome husband. "He pretty much planned the wedding. We were going to elope, but we got too much pressure from family members. So we finally said, 'Fine, we'll have a small family wedding."' The couple recited poems during the ceremony and drank from a special beer bottle. "It was from our first date," she says, recalling the evening like it was yesterday. "We were all dressed up and were sitting at the bar before dinner talking about how much we love fishing. We decided to try to catch a night (fishing) boat, but we got down to the beach too late," she says, smiling at the memory ."So we bought a six-pack of beer and sat on the beach. He saved one of those beers, and for our wedding toast he served champagne in the bottle." The couple made their wedding rings from melted-down gold that had once belonged to the maid of honor (Jensen Buchanan, who plays Vicky and Marley on ANOTHER WORLD ), the best man, their parents and their grandparents. "It was his idea to make the rings from all those people's gold and mix it all together. I thought that was very romantic, I don't know where he came up with it." It isn't hard to see what Judi sees in Mike. How many other people would be as amiable to having a group of strangers roaming through their living room, pointing their fingers and asking, "What's this?" and "What's that?" "He's my best friend," she says. "He's got a lot of soul, a lot of heart." Judi loves being a "Mrs." The pretty actress was even excited about having her name changed on her license. "I didn't think I would ever enjoy married life the way I do now. It's just so right. When two people combine and have a really good friendship--I think that' s the most important thing. That lasts longer then any flame." Mike has adopted Judi's two "children," a dog named "Pupster" and a cat named "Kittie." If there are children in the future for this couple, neither one of them is saying. But they are hinting, as they evaluate the likelihood of raising a child in their current home. "The only thing is having kids here would be very difficult. It's a very dangerous house for kids. The pond, the wood-burning stove. I don't know what we'd do," shares Judi. As for now, Mike and Judi are getting used to being a Mr. and Mrs. The pictures from their wedding aren't back from the photographer yet, but the memories of their St. Barts honeymoon are still fresh in their minds. The couple spent their honeymoon boating, shopping, playing cards (rummy) and relaxing. "There was one beach where the sun didn't set because it set on the other side of the island; this beach was really beautiful," she says. "At high tide there would be nobody at the beach, so we would rip off all our clothes and go bodysurfing. It was pretty cool. "We also read the Howard Stern book on our honeymoon; that was our bedtime story. We read it to each other," she laughs. "Why be serious? Life is too short." # |
It's rush hour on the road leading to Judi Evans' house, and traffic is bumper-to-bumper. The only scenery is a neverending strip of fast food restaurants, chain stores, strip malls and gas stations. Suddenly, the traffic lets up. Next, all of the stores vanish from sight, replaced by majestic evergreens and rolling hills.