The Best of All Worlds News Star Trek Monthly December 1999 MARRIED BLISS Interview by Ian Spelling Following her marriage to politician Tim Hagan in May, Kate Mulgrew has revealed how much she is enjoying wedded life.

Mulgrew met Tim Hagan in Ireland six years ago and the attraction was instant and mutual. However, at that time, Hagan needed to pursue his political career in Ohio and Mulgrew had just won her role as Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, and they both got on with their own lives. When Mulgrew’s relationship with director Rick Kolbe ended in the late spring of 1998, Mulgrew’s mother phoned Hagan and implored him to call her daughter. He did, then flew out to Los Angeles for a lunch date that set the stage for a full-blown relationship. They exchanged vows and wedding bands in a private and unannounced ceremony not long after.

“It’s been just wonderful,” Mulgrew enthuses of married life. “[Tim’s] still based in Cleveland, but he spends a lot of time here. He left public office in January and decided not to run in the Senate race. He wants this marriage to work out.

“We’ve both lived a long time in the public eye. We’re both old enough, wise enough and just silly enough to recognise that God is winking at us. So, we are going to take this opportunity very seriously. He comes out to Los Angeles every 10 days and stays for five. I try to get to Cleveland, which is very difficult to do. But we agreed that for these next two years, as I fulfil my commitment to Voyager, he will help and support me completely, so that when this is over we can redefine our lives and what we’re going to do. And then it will be my turn to support him.”

It was her personal life, Mulgrew acknowledges, that led her to make public statements about her future — or lack thereof — on Star Trek: Voyager earlier this year. Those statements led fans to believe that she might abandon ship before the show’s run ended. “[The statements] came not only from my relationship with Tim, but from a real concern for my children, who were expressing a lot of discomfort and dissatisfaction with my job and its requirements,” explains Mulgrew, candid as always. “I’ve been away from home a lot. I’ve had to miss a lot of stuff. It’s a very, very heavy price to pay. I didn’t recognise that right away. Slowly, it became very clear to me that something had to be done.

“On Voyager, I’m just a hired gun. I have no power. They call the shots. So I simply said to them, ‘I need you guys to acknowledge the fact that I have a life that needs to be addressed. If we can talk about some flexibility in the time, if you can look at the scheduling with extra vigilance as you’re preparing an episode and find me a day here and a day there, if certain dates could be respected regarding my children’s school activities and my husband, I would be much happier.’ All told, we are talking very little time, but it is precious time. The acknowledgement of my need for that time was crucial to me, and they acknowledged it. They did. They have stepped up to the plate.”