Lara Flynn Boyle Has Dinner Date In L.A. In Rare Public Appearance

TWIN PEAKS, Lara Flynn Boyle, 1990-1991 — Image Credit: twoeyephotos/MEGA

Lara Flynn Boyle made a rare public appearance on Wednesday night (Feb. 23). The Twin Peaks star had dinner at celebrity hotspot Craig’s in Los Angeles, Lara, 51, brought all the vibes with her outfit. The actress, who entertained fans as Helen Gamble during the late ’90s series The Practice, wore a pair of chic flared jeans, a black turtleneck top, and a jacket that was fringed from here to heaven. Lara channeled her “Urban Cowboy” motif down to her shoes and the snakeskin bag she carried into the restaurant.

Though Lara was a stable of ’90s pop culture – portraying Donna Hayward on Twin Peaks, Helen on The Practice, and appearing in movies like The Rookie, Wayne’s World, The Road to Wellville, and more – her output slowed at the start of the century. Her last television appearance was on a 2008 episode of Law & Order. In the past decade, she’s appeared in just a handful of movies, the most recent being 2020’s Death in Texas.

“I never went anywhere,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2021 interview. She also spoke about how she never watches anything she’s in (“I’ve only seen about 45 percent of anything I’ve ever done”) because she doesn’t want to pick apart what the editor and director have done with her work. “Those minutes were my beautiful time to communicate with my scene partner. I got my presents, I got my candy, and now I move on,” she said.

Lara also spoke about how, now in her 50s, she’s had to adjust to – as the interviewer said – giving up being “on screens, magazine covers, billboards.” Lara quoted Beddie Davis (“Old Age ain’t no place for sissies”) but said that such a challenge of accepting your age is a “lovely hurdle to get over.”

“Things drop, things fall, things change, but the work is always there,” she said. “Well, it’s not always a pony in a parade, but I chose my career. I chose the highs, and I chose the lows. This career I have chosen has been kinder to me than it hasn’t. If I can’t roll with the bumps, then I have no business riding the roller coaster.”

“Of course, I’m a human being, and there are going to be questions that come into your head or your heart,” she added. “I don’t know if this is good or bad, but I have weathered the storm with a lot of negative publicity, and at the end of the day, I’ll take the negative publicity and keep on rolling. It’s worth it.”

I hope you’re celebrating with a damn fine cup of coffee #TwinPeaksDay ☕️🥧 pic.twitter.com/HjNbQ9HbcL

— NIGHTMARE ON FILM STREET (@NOFSpodcast) February 24, 2022

Lara has dealt with a handful of bad press. She was famously mocked for wearing a pink ballerina’s outfit at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards. There were allegations that she had work done. She also was the subject of a romantic scandal. While dating David Spade, Jack Nicholson allegedly “asked Lara Flynn Boyle out in front of me, while we were all smoking a doob somewhere,” Spade told Details magazine in 2015 (per GQ.) “She got mad because I didn’t stick up for her. I said I’ve been in this town long enough to know when I’m outranked. You’re either gonna go out with him or you’re not.” Later, Spade says he heard that Lara and Jack were in a car crash together, with her crawling out of the sunroof while allegedly shouting, “I have a boyfriend! I can’t be here!” Spade said that he and his girlfriend “didn’t talk too much after that.”