Cherie Currie - Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway

Mauro DiPreta; Jennifer Schulkind; HarperCollins/It Books; Tony ONeill; Neal Schusterman; William Pohlad; Bob and Jeanne Berney; Joy, Steve, Elle, and Dakota Fanning; Chris Schwartz; Carianne Brinkman; Julie Rader and all at Blackheart Records Group; Ted Stachtiaris; Paul Bresnick; Apparition; Art Linson; John Linson; Floria Sigismondi; River Road; Sabrina Ballard; Pam Apostolou; Katt Lowe; and Tim Farris.

L ooking back on my life since that fateful day with my niece Cristina, I really see how truly blessed I am. Many years have passed, we have orbited the sun more then 7,500 times and I have seen such extraordinary things, and had so many profound experiences that I could easily fill the pages of another book. In the years since the Runaways I have lost some of my dearest friends, and I have reinvented myself time and time again. But through it all, the wonderment and personal triumph that emerges from the emotional depths I have experienced leave me knowing I wouldnt have changed a thing.

Sandie and T.Y. split in 1982, and both went on to meaningful, long-term relationships, though sadly Tony Young passed away from lung cancer in February of 2002. In 1989 Sandie married director/producer Alan J. Levi. Sandie has continued with a successful acting career, and recently appeared in the blockbuster summer hit The Hangover, the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

Shortly after the release of my original book, Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story, in 1989, I left my job as a drug counselor after two years, and became a personal fitness trainer. I loved it. Talk about a 180, from hopeless drug addict to a focused, fitness guru! I was also working weekly with a voice-over group called the Studio City Carvers, looping everything from TV shows like Colombo and Quantum Leap, to major motion pictures like The Sandlot and various Adam Sandler productions.

When I wasnt doing voice-over work, most of my time was spent in the gym, and it was there, on a sunny November afternoon in 1989 that Marie introduced me to the actor Robert Hays. Of course, I already knew who Robert was via his work, which I had loved. One of his most famous roles was in one of the largest-money-making comedies of all time, Airplane! Robert had also starred in the ABC television series Starman and Angie. I was later surprised to learn that he had started out in the theater, doing a wide variety of dramatic roles, including Shakespeare.

Bob was interesting, down-to-earth, handsome, witty, and just as wonderful as he was depicted on the screen. Hell, I thought he was the sexiest, funniest actor out there. We were married just seven months later, on May 12, 1990. It was the first marriage for us both. On our two-day honeymoon in Montecito, California, we decided to throw condoms to the wind, and I discovered I was pregnant that July. Bob continued to star in some classic family films like the Walt Disney hit Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, and he also lent his voice to many television commercials and did countless voice-overs for animated films and TV. But Bob says his favorite production by far is the one he and I made togetherour son, Jake Robert Hays, born February 8, 1991.

Jake, who turned nineteen in February, was an artist from the start, drawing in two dimensions at the age of four. His teachers claimed they had never seen a student like him. He picked up the guitar at age twelve, and has been writing, singing, producing, and recording music ever since. His appreciation for Japanese art set in motion a love for the art of tattoo. He has been a praised tattoo artist for more than a year and even Martha Davis of the Motels is adorned with a tattoo, her one and only, courtesy of Jake. But mostly Jake is a wonderful person to the core, and Bob and I really cant take credit for who he has become. We can only sit in awe and utter disbelief at this pure and wonderful human being that we have had the honor of bringing into the world.

Though our marriage ended after seven years, Bob has remained my best friend and Jake has benefited greatly from the loving relationship we have to this day. In recent years Bob has helped to create an annual golf tournament to raise money for the SAG Foundation, which provides help to actors in need. He is just that kind of guy, and Im so happy that I still have him in my life today. I call him the Best Ex-Husband in the World, and he has earned that title, believe me. I love you, babe!

Marie and Steve stayed together for thirteen years. They separated shortly before Bob and I were married, and then divorced after nearly ten years. Their son, Trevor, now twenty-three, has followed in his dads footsteps in fronting his own band, and has also toured as a guitar player for Lindsay Lohan. He continues to write and record, and I have no doubt he will make his mark on the industry just like his father has. Steve Lukather has been on the road nonstop with several side projects since the end of his first band Toto after thirty-plus years. In 2009 he was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Steve is now enjoying a new life with his wife Shawn and their two-year-old daughter, Lily Rose. Cristina Lukather, now twenty-five, was born with one of the best voices in the family and continues to strive and thrive.

In 1997 Marie began answering phones for a mortgage company that our brother, Don, was working for, and she soon worked her way up the ladder. She became an accomplished account executive. She is now a sales and branch development manager for HighTechLending, Inc., a mortgage bank created and owned by our brother Don Currie based in Irvine, California.

Speaking of our brother, Don, he went on to travel the world. Sometimes with just a backpack and that ever-present yearning for adventure. He graduated with a triple B.S. degree from Cal State University Northridge in business, finance, and real estate. He has served as a mortgage professional for twenty-eight years, and is also a national speaker and published author. HighTechLending, Inc., currently has forty-five branches and two hundred employees. He lives in San Juan Capistrano, California, with his wife of eleven years, Vena, who happened to be Jakes first preschool teacher. I thought Vena would be the perfect match for my country-hopping, daredevil brother, and I was right. They now have a beautiful daughter, Grace, who just turned nine.

Mom and Wolfgang are still married after thirty-four years and live in Westlake Village, California. Mom just turned eighty-six, and dad, ninety-five. Mom recently fought and won yet another battle with colon cancer and she is considered a true miracle. Shes a wonderful mom and we have made up for our lost years in spades. Our family is blessed each and every day that we have her and dad in our lives.

Aunt Evie passed away in December of 1999, the very month that she dreaded, and we miss her. She was responsible for the strong foundation our family was built on.

During my marriage, I continued doing TV guest appearances, and continued performing onstage here and there. I wrote songs, and recorded and starred in another film in 1991 called Rich Girl that I thought was terrible. I moved to Chatsworth, California, in 1997 after Bob and I divorced, and it was there that I became good friends with a man who would have a profound influence on the rest of my life, Kenny Laguna. Kenny had contacted me to be involved in the lawsuit to regain the lost and stolen royalties for the Runaways. Kenny and Joan Jett believed in the legacy of the band and in what it stood for. Together they found Chuck Ruben, an artists rights activist in New York, who fought to regain the name and the lost and future royalties of the Runaways. Lita Ford and Sandy West joined in the fight, and through Kennys persistence, we were finally awarded the rights to what had been stolen from us twenty-five years before. Kenny and Joan have done more for the legacy of the Runaways and its members than anyone else could have. Since then, Kenny and I have remained close, and Joan and I were able to rekindle a friendship that had been dormant for twenty-two years.