“Tom Selleck’s 1982 PEOPLE Cover Reveals a Love Life Without ‘Hawaiian Punch'”

Tom Selleck’s love life faced its share of challenges in the early 1980s.

Now 79 and featured on this week’s cover of PEOPLE, Selleck first graced the magazine’s cover on March 8, 1982, as he was rising to fame with his role as Thomas Magnum on the hit CBS show Magnum P.I. At the time, PEOPLE highlighted Hollywood’s growing admiration for Selleck’s charismatic “Hawaiian punch,” and how fans were drawn to him wherever he went.

In the early days of Magnum P.I., Selleck was separated, though not legally divorced, from his first wife, Jacquelyn Ray. He expressed reservations about starting a new relationship, citing his self-protectiveness. “One of my nightmares would be to get heavily involved with somebody while I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on in my life,” he confessed.

Selleck also admitted to being a bit of a flake, saying, “I’ve told a couple people I’ve gone out with, ‘If I don’t call you for five or six days, it’s not because I didn’t have a good time. It’s because I’m a flake.’” The demands of newfound fame also complicated his personal life. “There aren’t enough hours in the day to conduct relationships,” he reflected, noting the exhaustion of being constantly in the public eye. “It’s very fatiguing to know that everything you do, all day, is being photographed.”

Today, Selleck enjoys a fulfilling marriage with Jillie Mack. As he prepares to release his new memoir, You Never Know, on May 7, he reminisces about their wedding on August 7, 1987. The couple married in a private ceremony near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where they encountered an unexpected hiccup.

“Jillie can talk really fast and a lot and loudly, and I heard all this stuff and I think Dan went to check, and we had all forgotten the [marriage] license,” Selleck recalled. Despite the mix-up, the wedding remains a cherished memory for Selleck. “That’s what I remember most about the wedding. And Reverend David saying I’ll sign the thing anyway,” he continued. “He went all the way into Reno himself so we could have dinner and brought it back. So yeah, it was just an adventure. I wouldn’t trade it.”