Tanya Roberts
Jaclyn Smith has revealed that late ‘Charlie’s Angels’ co-star Tanya Roberts once invited her to join her open marriage Associated Press/Wikimedia Commons

Tanya Roberts' private approach to marriage has resurfaced decades after her Charlie's Angels days, with Jaclyn Smith revealing that her late co-star once invited her to join Roberts and her husband for a threesome during a flight to Hawaii.

Smith, 80, recounts the unexpected proposition in her new memoir, I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie, describing an encounter that took place while the Charlie's Angels cast were travelling to Hawaii to film episodes during the hit television series' fifth and final season. Roberts, who died in 2021, had joined the show as Julie Rogers.

Tanya and Barry Roberts' Reported Open Marriage

According to Smith's account, Roberts and her then-husband, Barry Roberts, had an open marriage and were candid about inviting other people to 'swing' with them.

Smith said Roberts directly asked whether she would be interested in joining the couple, but she declined. The actress explained that her own views on marriage were more traditional, reflecting the values with which she had been raised.

Despite turning down the proposition, Smith wrote positively about Roberts' willingness to speak openly about her sexuality.

'I found her honesty about her sexuality to be brave and self-aware,' Smith wrote, adding that she recognised people had different passions and approaches to relationships.

Smith said Roberts' arrangement nevertheless appeared 'complicated' to her because of what she viewed as the potential for hurt feelings.

David Doyle Witnessed the Exchange

The unusual conversation apparently did not go unnoticed by another member of the Charlie's Angels cast.

David Doyle, who played the Angels' handler John Bosley, was seated behind Smith and Roberts during the flight and witnessed the proposition, according to Smith's memoir.

After Roberts left her seat to use the bathroom, Doyle asked Smith whether she needed 'some salt.'

Smith initially did not understand what he meant. Doyle then told her to 'take it with a grain of salt' while gesturing towards the bathroom, where Roberts had gone.

Smith provides few additional details about what happened following the exchange, but the anecdote offers a rare glimpse into the relationships between the stars away from the cameras.

Tanya Roberts Joined 'Charlie's Angels' Final Season

Roberts joined Charlie's Angels in 1980 as Julie Rogers for the programme's fifth and final season, replacing Shelley Hack.

She starred alongside Smith, who played Kelly Garrett throughout the show's five-season run, and Cheryl Ladd, who portrayed Kris Munroe.

Roberts' stint on the ABC series lasted just one season before Charlie's Angels ended in 1981, but the role became one of the defining credits of her career.

Tanya Roberts Later Became a Bond Girl

Following Charlie's Angels, Roberts continued working in film and television and later landed one of her most recognisable big-screen roles.

She played geologist Stacey Sutton opposite Roger Moore's James Bond in the 1985 film A View to a Kill. Roberts later found a new generation of fans as Midge Pinciotti, the mother of Laura Prepon's Donna, on That '70s Show.

Roberts died in January 2021 aged 65.

Jaclyn Smith Memoir Revisits Her Famous Co-Stars

Roberts is not the only Charlie's Angels star Smith remembers in I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie. Smith also reflects on her friendship with original co-star Farrah Fawcett, who died from cancer in 2009 aged 62.

In an interview with USA Today, Smith recalled her final meeting with Fawcett and discussed an emotional letter her longtime friend wrote near the end of her life, adding another personal chapter to her memories of the women who helped make Charlie's Angels a television phenomenon.

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