Jane Seymour Says She ‘Must Be Part Koi’ (Exclusive)

Jane Seymour has been on location in Ireland for several months filming the fifth season of her detective series Harry Wild (she plays an English professor turned private investigator on the show, which released a two-hour special on Nov. 24) and jokes, “my family thinks I’m Irish now”. The actress, 74, who also runs Jane Seymour Designs, creating clothing and artwork based on her paintings, says she has “two lives.” In film work mode, she wakes up at 4 a.m. and works 12-to 14-hour days. At her oceanside home in L.A., she gets up at 7 and takes time to connect with family and appreciate her surroundings. She shares her morning routine for PEOPLE’s series My Good Morning.

I’m really good about getting up in the morning. If you’ve had children [Seymour has six], you know you get up when you get up. But first I wiggle before I jump out of bed, just to make sure all the bits are moving. A girlfriend of mine, a fellow ballerina, always said, ‘Before you get up, wiggle about like a fish. Let your spine move, and your arms, and your feet.’ And she was right. So I do that for a few moments.

I tend to like to sleep without clothes. It feels freeing. I have a very nice duvet, and there’s something lovely about being able to not have to wear clothes. And in bed is a good place for that. I design dressing gowns with my paintings on them, and I always make sure I have one of those at the end of the bed.

No matter whether we’re at home or at work, John [Zambetti, her partner]  is up with me to make me my first cup of coffee to start my day! I’ll have a cup of black coffee first thing in the morning, just to say, “Okay, we’re on.”

Depending on how much time I have, I will do some Pilates-type exercise to wake my body up. If I haven’t had time at home, I will do pliés in costume on set. People laugh at me, but I’ll do that whilst learning lines.

In the shower, I use my Crepe Erase exfoliant always, everywhere, over my entire body. It’s from The Body Firm [Seymour has a partnership with the company] and I’ve been using that maybe 15 years? It sloughs off all the dead skin cells. It’s a great way to wash and feel really clean.  If I do that, I know my skin is going to be looking firm and un-crepey.

I wash, shampoo and condition my hair every single day. What I use depends on which part of the world I’m in and what my hair is needing. At the moment I’m using a Redken product, which we get here in Ireland. I do color my hair, so I have to have something that is gentle enough for colored hair. There’s a leave-in detangler I like called Ouai. And I don’t do a savage blow dry. I just do it very gently. I’m very in and out very quickly.

I will always put on a sunscreen, usually SPF 40. It’s a routine for me to avoid skin damage and skin cancer or pre-cancers. I grew up in England where you never had the sun. The minute I got to Hollywood, I was with George Hamilton and he gave me a reflector board and said, ‘Fry yourself!’ Like an idiot, I did that for a bit until I realized I was burning my skin, and you age faster than you need. So I’m really careful about that now. Playing roles in period pieces, I always had to have light skin. In Dr. Quinn, they covered me in sunscreen. I was not supposed to look like I’d been exposed to the sun.

Before I leave for work, I will do all my vitamins. If I get bad food on a film set, I don’t have to worry, I’ve already got all my nutrients. I also take collagen powder and put that all into a glass of water, stir it up, throw it down and get in the car. When I get on set, I have to eat something substantial protein-wise before I start my 12-hour days. I usually have plain scrambled eggs. Nothing on them.

At home in California, mornings are quite different. I usually get up about 7 if I’m not working. I live right by the beach in Malibu. There’s a lovely incline, which gives me good cardiovascular workout. When I walk on the beach, I will talk to my sisters in England, and appreciate the sound of the ocean, the sand between my toes, sunshine, nature. Or I’ll listen to music. When I need inspiration, I listen to my son Johnny’s music. He’s an incredible singer-songwriter. My favorite song of his right now is “Potential,” and he’s set to release an album soon. I feel like what he’s saying in his music is what I want in the world.

On my way back up to the house, I have an organic garden. I pick basil and lettuces and blueberries. We have every kind of herb you can imagine. I eat a really mostly vegetable diet, grown in our garden. Then I go visit the chickens, pick up my eggs and say, ‘Thank you very much.’ That will be what I’ll be eating during the day.

My personal pets are the most beautiful koi fish given to me by a friend of mine who raises them. Every morning, I feed them by hand. They’ll come right up to my fingers. They’re magical. It’s my meditation. There’s something about those koi — maybe in another life I am was a koi fish! I love their color, I love their shape, I love how they glide through the water. Yep, I think I must be part koi. And I love painting them – not the actual fish, of course. I would never dream of doing that! I paint them on paper.

I catch up with all my children in the morning, wherever they are, anywhere I’m in the world. Thanks to Instagram, I can usually see my daughter’s latest photography — she’s a fine art photographer and my grandchildren are often in these photographs, so that’s exciting. Then I’ll WhatsApp them. I check in with all my kids. I make sure everyone’s good, especially all the grandchildren. [She has four grandkids.]

I keep a set of watercolors and paper in the kitchen — I have a table on the balcony, which looks out over the ocean. I will doodle around. I might have picked some flowers from the garden, I’ll stick them in a jam jar, and start doing some very loose paintings. Then they can end up on the scarves I design.

If I have something on my mind, I have a little notebook and I will write down my feelings, what I feel upset about, what I wish for. It’s not something I ever share with anyone else. It’s just to get it out of my brain and on the page. I find if I do that, then I don’t find myself spiraling or ruminating.

The morning is when I am firing on all cylinders. This is connection time for me. Connecting with myself, connecting with my feelings, connecting with my family and close friends. I avoid the news in the morning. Later on in the day, I’ll catch up and I’ll read articles in papers that I trust. I’m interested in global news, but time is short. I do not want to go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

What feeds my soul is family, being outside, appreciating the weather, or the fact that I’m able to eat from my garden, or do something I love, which is acting. Picking the fruits and flowers, watching everything grow, deadheading roses. That’s my spiritual connection to the natural world. And at the end of the day, i if I have accomplished something, if I’ve helped somebody, created something, been there to listen to someone, all of those tick my box for feeling that was a good day.