Former ‘Melrose Place’ Star Talks Life After Prison Release

Just five days before Christmas in 2024, Melrose Place actress Amy Locane walked out of prison for the second—and hopefully final—time. The 53-year-old had served more than six years total for a devastating 2010 DWI crash that killed a 60-year-old woman. Her first stint ran from 2013 to 2015, and after a court ruled her sentence too lenient, she was returned to prison in 2020 and remained there until late 2024. “It feels very raw to be back into society,” Locane told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview. “I’m looking at the world with fresh eyes.”

She remembers her release day with clarity. Her mother picked her up and drove her straight to Dunkin’ Donuts. “When you’re inside, you are so deprived. To have coffee with real creamer is a huge treat,” she said. Even the simple act of getting an order quickly left her in awe. But returning to a world that had moved on wasn’t easy. “I was like, ‘How do I do this self-scanning stuff?’” she laughed, recalling her first post-prison grocery run.

During her time at New Jersey’s Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, Locane found solace in routine. “That bright fluorescent light wakes you up around 6 or 7 a.m.,” she said. “So I’d get up at 5 a.m. to have my alone time.” She worked daily in the prison kitchen from noon to 6 p.m., cooking and cleaning for hundreds, earning just $5 a day—a top-paying job by prison standards. “It was intense manual labor,” she said. “But I liked having some outlet, some form of exercise.”

What weighed on her the most was being away from her daughters, Paige, now 18, and Avery, 16. After her first release, her husband filed for divorce, and contact with her girls became limited to occasional visits and daily phone calls. “The strain of prison is that you don’t have anything to say, because your life stands still when everybody else has moved on,” she said. “Teenagers don’t really talk a lot, so we’d be on the phone saying nothing—but at least we were together.”

Though rebuilding her relationship with her daughters hasn’t been easy, she’s making progress. “Some days are easier than others,” she admitted. These days, Locane is living a quieter life near Princeton, New Jersey. She works at a doctor’s office front desk, attends a local Presbyterian church, and continues her sobriety journey that began back in 2010. She’s also working toward an associate degree, a goal she started during her second prison term. “I was getting good feedback from my professors,” she said. “I learned I’m smart.”

Locane isn’t ruling out a return to acting, either. She left Hollywood in 2006 and believes that sudden void led to struggles with depression. Asked if she’d join the new Melrose Place reboot, she didn’t hesitate: “I would do it in a heartbeat… it would be very exciting to bring it back.”

As for the future, she’s cautiously hopeful. “I see me and my family kind of growing old together,” she said. She’s even open to finding love again. “I want to be married again,” she shared. “If I do meet a guy now, I don’t have to worry about [telling them] ‘Oh, by the way, I might have to go away for a little bit,’ so that’ll be exciting.”

Despite the positive steps forward, Locane remains haunted by the crash that changed her life and ended another. “It’s a very, very, very heavy reality to live with,” she said. “To this day, I have a lot of remorse.” She includes the victim in her prayers and devotionals. “Every day, I try to keep her in mind.”

Reentering society has brought its own challenges. “You can’t expect people to suffer with you,” she said. “Not everyone can stick with you for years like that, so you re-enter society and don’t have that support. It’s a very isolating experience.” Still, she’s found a silver lining. “You do know that you can handle anything—there is a great independence that comes from that.”

Locane knows she can never completely escape her past. “I don’t think something that shaped you and your world so much could be something that you don’t think about,” she said. But she refuses to let it define her. “They were hard lessons, but they say lessons have to be hard in order for you to grow. I can’t let this define me.”