The famed actress is a mother to son Gaston and daughter Spencer

NEED TO KNOW

• Jaclyn Smith is a proud grandmother
• The actress and designer joined writer Ada Calhoun for a conversation, hosted by 92NY, about her career-defining role in Charlie’s Angels and everything that came after
• During the conversation, Smith, who’s a proud mom of two and grandmother of three, opened up about how her three granddaughters are the “joy of my life”

Jaclyn Smith loves being a grandmother!

The actress, 80, joined writer Ada Calhoun for a conversation about her new memoir I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie on Sept. 9. At the event, which was hosted by 92NY, Smith spoke about her career-defining role in Charlie’s Angels and everything that came after.

During the conversation, Smith, who’s a proud mom of two and grandmother of three, opened up about how her three granddaughters are the “joy of my life.”

“Well, I mean, they’re the joy of my life,” she said. “I think my heart had to have an extra chamber because they’re amazing. They’re just the joys, pure joy.”

Smith first became a mother in March 1982 with the birth of her son Gaston, 44, whom she shares with ex-husband Tony Richmond. Then, three years later, the former couple welcomed their daughter Spencer, 41. Both Gaston and Spencer have welcomed children of their own, making Smith a grandmother to Wren, 3, Olivia, 7, and Bea, 10.

“The love that you have for your children, it’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ But this is even bigger — there are no words,” Smith told PEOPLE in 2017. “I was thrilled to become a grandma.”

Smith couldn’t be more proud of the special relationship she has with her granddaughters. In 2019, she opened up to PEOPLE about that bond, sharing how she was looking forward to revisiting her iconic role as Kelly Garrett in Charlie’s Angels by watching it with her granddaughters.

“My kids never really watched it that much,” she said at the time. “In fact, if they saw me on film, they’d go, ‘Oh, there’s Jaclyn Smith.’ They wouldn’t say, ‘There’s Mom.’ I bet I’ll have fun watching it with Bea and Olivia. That might be fun to say, ‘Hey, here’s your Mimi a long time ago.’ I’d like them to see how things change, and I think it’s important for them to see their history, to see where they came from.”

Smith also added that there are some valuable lessons to be learned from the show.

“It was about strong women,” she explained. “It was about women having each other’s backs. It was about women being their own person, being emotionally independent, financially independent, carrying out their job. The show was really about the bond of friendship.”

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Though there’s certainly a lot Smith will teach her granddaughters as they get older, there’s just as much they already have taught her.

“When you’re with them, nothing else matters,” she said. “You’re really in the moment. You’ve come a distance in life, and you really know what’s important. You just forget it all.”

“When you have your own children, you’re doing the nitty-gritty and you’re doing the homework and you want to do it all just right,” she added. “But you get to a place in life where you realize that these moments are treasures, and that’s what it’s all about.”

I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie is now available, wherever books are sold.

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