Tom Selleck is one of the most beloved actors we know of. He has produced many classic film and series, and we always enjoy watching him on-screen.
However, now his daughter Hannah Selleck is approaching the world stage – as a horse rider. The 32-year-old’s passion for horses is taking her to new heights, and she’s always had the love and support of her parents.
It now turns out that her father, Tom Selleck, once made a very specific demand of Hannah before helping her pursue the dream of her life.
Let’s face it, everybody loves Tom Selleck. The beloved American actor, 73, takes us back to the good old days and the classic films and shows we all enjoyed watching.
Tom Selleck
Who can forget his role as private investigator Thomas Magnum in the popular television series Magnum P.I.? Or how about when he starred as Peter Mitchell in Three Men and a Baby and Three Men and a Little Lady.
But did you know he had a little lady in real life, too? Well, she’s not quite so little anymore. Tom Selleck’s daughter Hannah Margaret Selleck is now 32-years old — and as charming as ever she was.
One thing we admire about Selleck is his loyalty to his wife, Jillie Mack. While many celebrity marriages come and go, these two have been happily married for 33 years.
In an interview with Closer Weekly, Selleck recalled the first time he met Jillie Mack … at a performance of the musical Cats that Mack was performing in. It was the 1980s, after Selleck’s decade-long marriage to model Jacqueline Ray ended.
While Selleck says he’s not as smooth with the ladies as his on-screen counterparts, he approached his future wife backstage, though she was the one who made the first move.
Meeting his wife Jillie Mack
“She had to go on [stage]. I was hemming and hawing, and she finally asked, ‘Do you want to meet for a cocktail?’” Selleck recalled to Closer Weekly.
The date apparently went well, and Selleck and Mack were married in 1987, in a private ceremony.
Ever since, Selleck has put his family ahead of stardom, and has tried to keep his personal life out of the Hollywood spotlight.
He says he quit the hit show Magnum, P.I. to start a family with Mack. They had a daughter, Hannah, shortly after, and bought their family ranch in Hawaii.
“It took a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance, and this ranch has helped me do that,” Selleck told Closer.
In 1987, Tom Selleck married Jillie Mack. Just one year later, their daughter Hannah was born.
Tom, a great fan of nature and the outdoors, was keen on sharing his love with his daughter. Soon enough, he’d passed his passion on to her!
Daughter Hannah Selleck
Tom and his wife Jillie live on a 65-acre ranch in California, and it was there that Hannah was brought up. He actually let his acting career take a back seat to make sure he had adequate time to spend with his wife and beloved daughter.
Funnily enough, it’s on that ranch that Hannah had her first encounter with horses, beginning to ride when she was just four.
By the time she was 14, horses were dominating Hannah’s life. She graduated from college and thereafter decided to pursue riding professionally.
She began to sign up for competitions, and soon even opened up her own horse breeding stable.
At age 32, Hannah has bloomed into a beautiful young woman. Here’s all you need to know about her!
She certainly has her dad to thank, both for her good looks and passion for the outdoors!
Hannah Selleck – early life
Hannah’s passion for horses began at an early age. Her parents always encouraged her to try different things, and as the years went by, she fell in love with horses.
“I started at 4 and my parents just encouraged me to try all different things — dance, ice skating, soccer, lots of things that kids do,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Around the time I was 12, I was getting more serious. Then around the age of 14, I was very good at ballet and riding. At that point I had to choose if I wanted to excel at either one. My love was with the horses. That’s when I became very serious about it.”
Even when she was young, Tom and his wife Jillie Mack made sure to help Hannah as much as they could. The most important part was, of course, that they made all their decisions together.
“We don’t do anything or make any decisions without consulting each other,” he said.
“And if one of us makes a decision involving Hannah, the other parent completely supports that position, even if you disagree.”
Hannah dedicated her youth to sports. Growing up as the daughter of a major Hollywood star can be both easy and tough, but for her, horses were always the thing that made her forget about everything else.
Since she started to compete at an early age, she missed quite a few classes. However, she attended both school dances and went to prom, something some of her friends who also rode missed out on.
Tom Selleck’s demand
“A lot of them didn’t stay in the sport, so finding that balance has been important to have longevity in the career for me,” she explained. “I’d go to school and straight to the barn to ride, and that was kind of it. Even when I went to college.
“I decided to stay close so I could stay with the trainer I was with, so I went to Loyola Marymount University,” she added.
“I would go ride five or six times a week still, and from Marina del Rey to the farm was about an hour and a half, I was always juggling it even through college.”
Hannah has followed her father a bit when it comes to showing face in the spotlight. She went to Loyola Marymount University, majoring in communications.
Following graduation, she landed a job at a public relations firm in Beverly Hills, but she quit because she didn’t want to be away from her horses. That made her feel “miserable.”
“I was only able to ride on the weekends, and that was a huge shock. After that, I realized I have to do the horses, so I quit the PR job. I started working for my coach and later became an assistant trainer.”
Hannah knew that she wanted to work with horses. However, her father had a very specific demand that he wanted her to promise to accomplish before helping her pursue her dream.
“Once I finished university [at Loyola Marymount] and decided I wanted to pursue my passion, my father said he would help support me but that I had to turn professional, letting go of my amateur status, and work for top professionals in the sport in order to learn my craft,” she said.
Tried out modeling
Hannah also modeled over the years, and never shied away from the camera, though her true passion has always remained her horses.
“The modeling I only really did to help out some friends, and I do it for my sponsors,” she explained.
“Outside of that, I don’t have time. If it’s something tied to the horses that’s one thing, but between my travel schedule and competing and managing the horses with the breeding operation, it’s a full plate.”
As of today, Hannah Selleck’s travelling all over the world, doing what she loves the most. She’s qualified for several grand prix level competitions and has accumulated several medals.
For example, she finished top-five in St. Moritz, Switzerland; Belgium; the Netherlands; and the Canadian Pacific Grand Prix at the 2015 Longines Masters of Los Angeles.
“Riding is always my priority,” Hannah Selleck told Palm Beach Illustrated.
“For me, it’s always work. It’s not like idle trail riding. We’re always working for a goal and we prepare for weeks for that one to two minutes in the arena. I’m always thinking about what we need to do to improve.”
Lived together on a ranch
I think both Tom and Hannah are role models we can all look up to! She now splits her time between breeding and competing.
Eventually, father and daughter opened a boutique breeding stable in Hidden Valley.
“I quit Magnum to have a family,” Tom Selleck told People magazine in 2012. “It took a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance, and this ranch has helped me do that.”
“We both thought it was the best environment for Hannah to grow up,” Jillie Mack added.
For Hannah, the ranch has meant new opportunities and even more time working with her biggest passion in life.
“My dad encouraged it a lot. He liked the idea of developing the babies and developing young horses, so he was a big supporter of this idea,” Hannah said.
By 2015, Hannah and her father owned several foals, ranging from 4-year-olds to ones born the same year. Their hope was to sell them, or develop them into top horses for Hannah.
Hannah Selleck – breeding horses
Some of their youngest horses have been living in New Mexico. With the drought in California, it’s been tough for the horses to find grass. As a result they can live a better life in the south-west.
“We want to show that we can produce the horses in the States, having them on the ground as foals and bringing them up through the young horse classes,” Hannah told Sidelines.
Breeding horses as well as competing is a tough career choice, but Hannah’s been doing it wonderfully, succeeding on all fronts.
However, she says she wouldn’t have been able to to it without the support of her parents.
“They wanted me to find my love and pursue that,” she said.
“As a kid they tried to raise me as normally as possible given my dad’s line of work. Those horses have been a great way for me to have my own accomplishments outside of whatever my parents had done.”
“People like to [criticize] and say that you’re able to buy expensive horses and all of that, but when it comes down to it, it’s just you in the ring who has to perform and nobody can do that for you.”
“We’re so lucky”
”My goal right now is to enjoy each moment,” Hannah explained in 2019. ”Right now, I want to focus on not only having the goals, but also being more present. You want to e joy that moment that you’re in – whether it’s in the show ring or training the young horses at home – because we are so, so lucky to work with these animals every day.”
Being the child of a major Hollywood star can be tough. However, we’re so happy that Hannah has pursued her own dream of working with horses. Not only that, but her parents are so supportive of it!
