At 56, Lynda Carter talks to us about overcoming
her life’s biggest hurdles, her cabaret show and how she finally
discovered her own inner Wonder Woman.
pretty BY CHRIS MANN
wonderful

as the ever-earnest Diana Prince, all it took for Lynda Carter to release her inner Wonder Woman was a simple pirouette. One or two spins (her arms extended, of course), and Carter’s hidden goddess literally exploded onto the scene in a blaze of white-hot glory—star-covered ’70s-satin tights, magic lasso, boomerang headband and all.

And although she proudly embodied the epitome of superheroine strength, Carter hid her own secret from the world for more than two decades. Her battles with alcohol addiction overpowered her as she raised a family and put a thriving singing career on hold. Now 10 years sober, the woman behind the wonder—at age 56, a voice of recovery and self-discovery—realizes that she has much to sing about during her life’s second act.

“I’ve lived enough life to get it,” says the star of “An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter,” her song- and anecdote-filled cabaret show that opened in 2007 to rave reviews, including a thumbs-up from The New York Times (“That’s amazing!” the songbird chirps). “My goal in every show is to

connect. And the more honest I am about where I am, the more meaningful the connection. I share about my kids, my marriage, Wonder Woman … from mostly a point of view of joy, gratitude, fantastic memories and the things we’ve been through together.”

Her cabaret act sheds fresh light on passing moments along memory lane, while giving voice to the vulnerable, humorous and uncensored parts of Carter’s own personality and story. “I can only show those raw parts of me—or the funny parts or the unfiltered parts—in song,” she says.

Following several West Coast cabaret engagements this spring, Carter plans to redo vocals for an album she recorded last year. And while rethinking her music, she may reveal that a song she wrote titled “Toto” for her 1978 album “Portrait” is really about balancing fame with feeling like “the odd man out”—an experience she believes her secret-harboring TV alter ego also struggled to overcome. “I approach my music the same way I approach my acting roles,” she says. “Storytelling in song is a point of view.”