Sound Check‘Hot for Teacher’ star surfaces after band’s Grammy buzz
This year's Grammy nominations concert raised rumors of a Van Halen reunion performance. While the band never materialized onstage that night (much to the disappointment of the fans, who still hope the band will surface in some capacity on Grammy night), it is now kicking off a tour that it advertised with a video remix that includes "Hot for Teacher." The original music video for that 1984 song turned a spotlight on Lillian Muller, who played a teacher that inspired the attention of the students.
Yahoo! caught up with Muller and found that more than 25 years later, the model has carved out a career as an inspirational speaker, personal health consultant, and author. She has been a vegetarian since she was 27 (and despite her rock 'n' roll resumé has never had a drink in her life), which she says has helped keep her "Hot for Teacher" physique intact.
Muller auditioned to play the teacher but thought she wouldn't get the part because of her age. "I was early 30s at the time. I was a little old for the role," she says, admitting she has never seen the music video. "But now I am in my 60s."
Muller celebrated 60 this summer and sent her 21-year-old daughter off to college (but not before they both posed in matching white bikinis for a photo shoot). She's now posing for AARP instead of Playboy, but her looks haven't changed all that dramatically over the decades.
"I eat mostly raw food. People think I'm 40," she said.
For music buffs, she also played the object of Rod Stewart's affection in "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" in 1978. She says that none of the rockers she worked with flirted with her. (Her Hollywood romances, she says, were with then-"Magnum P.I." star Tom Selleck and Hugh Hefner.)
Muller is still acting but also has become an author (she wrote "Feel Great, Be Beautiful Over 40" in 1995). She is now a personal health consultant and inspirational speaker. She never married, but was engaged multiple times. "I always changed my mind in the end," she said. One thing she has no doubts about is that she would step up for another video now that the band is back together, and she has more to offer. "I'm a more valuable package now than in my 30s. I still have my physical condition, and I've become a much wiser person," said Muller, who has never had Botox or facial plastic surgery. "I would definitely appear in any video that would be classy and exciting." Whether Van Halen stages a surprise Grammy reunion appearance or not, check back in for full coverage of the awards on Feb. 12 on Yahoo!.
