Heather Dean Locklear was born on September 25, 1961 at 5:40pm-PST in Canoga Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, USA. Her parents are Bill, & Diane Locklear. Bill is director of the career placement office at UCLA and Diane was a homemaker and is now an administrative assistant at Disney. They have four children and Heather is the youngest. She has two sisters, Laurie and Colleen and one brother, Mark.
During her collegiate days at UCLA, she started modeling for the school store.

She has been romantically involved with Scott Baio, Tom Cruise, Mark Harmon but she ultimately turned to her romantic interests to rock and roll. She married rocker Tommy Lee of the rock group Motely Crue in 1986 and that marriage lasted until 1993. After their divorce, she married rocker Richie Sambora of the rock group Bon Jovi on December 17, 1994. On October 4, 1997, she gave birth to her first child, a girl, Ava Elizabeth. She has two dogs. One of her dog's names is Kitty, whom is a Yorkie dog. Her other dog is a Matese dog named Harley.

In a "Parade" magazine article, the blue-eyed, blonde- haired actress admits she is part Native American. Locklear says her last name is very common to members of a tribe called the "Lumbee", and she traces her roots back to that tribe way back on her father's side. She attributes her Caucasian-dominated looks to her mother's side of the family, which is predominantly Scottish.

Recent appearances on the Jay Leno show and the Late Late Show have not indicated what the future holds for Heather. For now she is content with having the time with her family.