Jill Whelan Says aLove BoatSequel Would Be 'Fabulous,' Jokes Vicki Might Be Remarried 'Like Me' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

‘The Love Boat’ star Jill Whelan.Photo:Rob Kim/Getty, ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Rob Kim/Getty, ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

On the last day of August, approximately 3,600 passengers boarded the Enchanted Princess in Brooklyn, N.Y., forPrincess Cruises’The Love BoatCelebration at Sea. Throughout the seven-night sailing, guests listened toThe Love BoatstarsFred Grandy,Ted Lange,Bernie KopellandJill Whelantalk about the hit ‘70s and ‘80s series during Q&As, tested their knowledge atThe Love Boattrivia, sipped on specialtyLove Boatcocktails and mingled with the actors when they ran into them around the ship.

Princess Cruises already has its 2025Love BoatCelebration at Sea sailing slated to leave out of Galveston, Texas, on the Regal Princess beginning on Nov. 16, 2025, so the cast knows fans have an appetite for moreLove Boat.

“Wouldn’t a sequel be fabulous?” Whelan, 57, asked PEOPLE on board the Enchanted Princess.

Whelan said she would like to see her character Vicki, who she began playing at age 11, in a fulfilling relationship. “She always had terrible boyfriends who made her steal or drink,” the former child star recalled. “It would’ve been fun to explore where she would’ve gone in work or in a relationship. Maybe she is [married] for the third time, like me.”

Until the cast reunites on screen,Love Boatdevotees can catch Whelan, Grandy, 76, and Lange, also 76, together in an off-Broadway play that Lange wrote in N.Y.C. next summer.

“We get along really, really well,” Whelan said of her costars. “Professionally, they taught me how to behave in this industry. We’ve been so lucky that withGavin [MacLeod]and Bernie in the beginning to set the bar. They set a tone and a level of respect that some actors unfortunately don’t have because they weren’t taught it necessarily. It’s a wonderful thing to be in a business where you get to entertain people, and that’s probably what I’ve learned from them more than anything else, is to not take myself too seriously.”

‘The Love Boat’ stars (from left) Ted Lange, Fred Grandy, Bernie Kopell, Gavin MacLeod, Lauren Tewes and Jill Whelan in 1979.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Whelan credits the “incredible cast of human beings” onThe Love Boat, as well as her mother Carol Garrett, with helping her navigate Hollywood at a young age. “She’s the reason I haven’t been arrested yet,” Whelan quipped. “I’m still frightened of her because she’s a powerhouse woman! But look, putting a child in a business always leaves room for disaster or nefarious things. My mom did the best she could."

Meanwhile, Grandy and Lange helped shape Whelan into “who I am as a person, because those were my most formative years,” she said. “They have been so generous with their love for me and their professionalism and their knowledge of our craft.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

The actress spoke on theStill Here Hollywoodpodcast earlier this year about how producer Doug Cramer took drastic measures to encourage her to stay thin, including having her workwith “some crazy doctor who had me on 400 calories a day.” To PEOPLE, she referred to Cramer, who died in 2021 at age 89, as someone who “really didn’t like women and was horrible.”

“But everybody has that cross to bear,” Whelan continued. “Or as my mom always said, ‘Everybody has a hole in their sock. And if we all knew each other had a hole in our sock, we’d be in a lot better place.’ So it’s just one of those things. It could’ve been a lot worse. I heard a great saying that you grow up to be the person who would’ve protected you, and so I try to make that my inner tape rather than the negative things that I remember as a kid.”

If Whelan could go back and give her young self some advice, it would be “to shut out the noise,” she said, adding, “I would tell myself that just because somebody has an open criticism of you, it’s really a reflection of who they are, not a reflection of anything that has anything to do with you.”

‘The Love Boat’ stars (from left) Bernie Kopell, Jill Whelan, Ted Lange and Fred Grandy on the Enchanted Princess.Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Love Boatis streaming on Paramount+.

source: people.com