Take Us Back Bridget Moynahan

The Blue Bloods favorite remembers the show's six-hour dinners, a regrettable haircut, a treasured gesture from AI Pacino and so much more

- Leanne Aciz Stanton, Andrea Simpson

Growing up in San Jose, Calif., Bridget Moynahan was not dreaming of a future as a cover girl and actress. “I wanted to play sports,” she tells Us. With two brothers and four male cousins, she was all about soccer, basketball, softball, swim team.… “I think I went to one ballet class and didn’t like what I was seeing,” Moynahan, 53, says with a laugh. Then, as a high school grad, she drove a friend to a modeling agency appointment — and got signed herself. “It was all quite accidental,” she shares, adding that it “absolutely opened doors for me.” Commercials were her gateway into acting and memorable projects from Sex and the City and Blue Bloods to the John Wick franchise: “The growth is there.”

Turning Point

After wrapping up nearly a decade and a half on CBS (the Blue Bloods series finale airs Dec. 13 at 10 p.m.), “I’ve consciously taken some time to settle back into life — motherhood, wife-hood, friend,” she says. “The new year will be a fresh start of seeing what’s out there.” But first, Moynahan looks back for Us.

SELF

1992

● After high school, Moynahan skipped college for “a completely different education,” modeling for magazine covers (French Vogue,