Donna Mills Reveals Surprising Second Act at Age 83: “It’s Never too Late to Follow a Dream!” (EXCLUSIVE)

Donna Mills shot to fame as Abby Cunningham, one of television’s best loved — and hated — villains during the reign of 80s nighttime soap Knots Landing. She was also notorious as the sister of supervillain Dr. Liesl Obrecht on General Hospital. But the timeless star has changed her perspectives since leaving the famed cul-de-sac: Gone are the expensive, glossy-red manicures. Now, the 83-year-old diva is embracing dirt under her nails in a surprising second act as a winemaker. A long-running dream that has filled her with childlike joy. 

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In the hills behind her Los Angeles home, Mills and her companion of 22 years, Larry Gilman, are growing rows and rows of grapes in what they have named Mandeville Vineyards. Located in what Donna calls her backyard, lies a crop of juicy grapes that will soon become another vintage of Malbec and cabernet sauvignon wines. During the pandemic and the recent Hollywood writers’ strike, Donna says her vineyard became her savior. 

“I don’t know what I would do without it,” Donna Mills told Woman’s World in an exclusive interview as our latest cover girl (buy your copy here). “It is a dream come true.”

While millions of fans might raise eyebrows thinking of glamorous Donna Mills as a farmer who works her own crops, she says, “It takes me to a place that is so basic and so real. It’s being out in nature, growing something, it’s just an amazing feeling. Having a vineyard is a finite kind of space that you concentrate on and it’s really very calming and centering.”

Here, in an exclusive Q&A, Donna Mills shares more of what she has learned about wine and the pure bliss of getting your hands a little dirty. 

Woman’s World: You say that farming is actually calming and centering. How so?

Donna Mills: I go up there to the vineyard, which is right behind my house up on the hill, and I’m there in another dimension. I weed. There’s trimming. There’s affixing the vines to the wire to make them grow up straight. I do that for hours and hours. 

I just lose myself there. You don’t even think about anything else. It’s all centered on that and it’s so good for your head to get out of everything that’s going on in the world. 

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WW: So getting your hands dirty and watching things grow seems fulfilling.

Donna Mills: It’s very fulfilling. I never would have thought that I would be so farmer-ish that I don’t mind the bugs, I don’t mind the bees, there’s snakes up there and none of that bothers me. I tend to adjust to it all. It’s a wonderful thing. I’m so grateful that I have it.

WW: What wine from your vineyard would you pair with a roast beef dinner, pasta or fish?

Donna Mills: Roast beef would be a Malbec. Pasta depends on what the sauce is, but if it is a tomato based sauce, a Malbec/Cabernet blend. And fish, a white wine usually goes best with fish, but since we don’t make white wine, if it is a dense fish like swordfish or catfish, I’d say a Malbec.

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WW: What advice would you give your younger self?

Donna Mills: That’s a good question. I think of my daughter, Chloe and what I'd say to her. I would probably say don’t stress about making it. If you are doing everything that you can do to get there, you will. But if you stress about it, it doesn’t help you. So I wouldn’t have stressed about it all in my younger career.

I was lucky in that I got some really good breaks, but it’s not that I never thought I would ever work again or ever get a job…there were those periods. I got some good advice years ago from a family member and it was never give up, keep trying and do things well. 

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Don’t miss more of Donna Mills’ exclusive interview in the new issue of Woman’s World on sale now. Pick one up at your local grocery store or buy your copy here to be delivered right to your door. 

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