Jane Seymour is livid. The star of 'TV's newest hit, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman who seconds ago seemed cool and collected-is now animated and edgy. "I'm upset-no, appalled by it," she says. "Yeah. I am appalled by it."

"It" is the sensational publicity surrounding Seymour's recent, messy divorce, the one that ended her 10-year storybook marriage to Hollywood business manager David Flynn. "It" is happening to Seymour, the likable queen of the miniseries, who rekindled TV on Saturday nights with a wholesome "family series" for CBS.

But the London papers have been blunt in their coverage of Seymour's woes. One even reprinted "Jane's Letter of Pain," her note to David that was almost agonizing to read. ("It kills me to see the children tormented now," it read in part. "This all kills me, but I'm strong and I will survive because that's what I do."

She confessed in one newspaper of sleeping with a young actor after being "abandoned" by her husband. Another story featured Jane discovering a picture of her husband with two nude women. The stories about Jane are strikingly vivid: one account even had her, in a fit of rage, "plunging a ballpoint pen into David's face, just missing an eye."



Did that really happen? "Absolutely not," she says hotly. "Ask David." I did-and indeed, he confirmed her account that the incident never happened. According to Jane, Flynn is still an important presence in the lives of the children. too.

How did all of these details become so public? Most of Seymour's bad press stems from revelations made by a writer , named George Mendoza. "I met George on the Virgin Airlines inaugural flight," ; she says, speaking of this incident for the first time. "I thought he was a respectable writer; we agreed to try to publish a book together. After we met, he kept at me with one book idea after another. Eventually he stirred some interest from my publisher on a book from me about how to survive crises and how to find inner peace. He asked me. could he do a book proposal with me at my house? Could he bring his wife'.' And I said yes. He talked to all of my best friends and my family about very intimate things. It wasn't supposed to be a book about me: the book was a celebration of how to survive. And it was all on tape."

When the Flynns decided to divorce, Jane realized that a book on her "inner peace" was not appropriate and canceled the book proposal with Mendoza With the tabloids hungry for material on the warring couple, the writer decided to act on his own. "And then he disappeared!" says the still shocked Seymour "He took my diaries and a computer, and the next thing I knew, he'd made $40,000 selling the tapes to the newspaper."

(According to press reports, Mendoza , an American author, has been sued in England for allegedly attempting to blackmail Seymour's sister, Annie Gould over "pornographic" photos of Seymour.)

Seymour is uncomfortable with all this bad publicity. Although "thrilled" with the part of Dr. Quinn, she had other motives for taking the role- As with other prominent female big earners such as Joan Lunden, Seymour found herself paying big bucks to get out of her marriage; she reportedly pays $10,000-a month alimony to ex-husband David. Currently she is dating actor/director, James Keach.

Understandably, Seymour doesn't want to rock the boat just as Dr. Quinn is on the cusp of sensation status. More to the point, Dr. Quinn-a horse opera about pioneer struggles is being sold as "a return to family entertainment." So, stories alleging that the series' lead actress stuck a ballpoint pen into someone's face are not what CBS's public relations department ordered.

"You know, this kind of publicity is very destructive," Seymour says. "Because my children (Katie, 11, Sean, 7) go to school and this stuff gets thrown at them. It is not fair. It is not right. The stories upset my kids. They heard that I supposedly beat them as children! And they say, Mommy! How can they say that?'"

The beating charges are especially galling: Seymour serves as an ambassador for Childhelp U.S.A. an organization that helps abused children. "I don't even spank my children!" she says. "I go out there on TV telling people, 'Before you spank, how about removing privileges instead'?' You warn children: then you follow through. That's how I do it. And it works very well."

The onslaught by the sensationalistic press has confused Jane. "Why make up negative stuff," she says, when, for once, someone is actually trying to do something positive with a TV show?"

Ah yes, something positive. One hears that a lot from the folks at Dr. Quinn. The show's executive producer.Beth Sullivan, speaks of it as "catharsis," something good for you to watch. The surprising thing is how well the show is doing among younger viewers. "I have grown-up children who watch it and not because I'm in it says series costar Orson Bean "My 25-year- old Max, and his friends get together and watch this show the way they do ' The Simpsons' and Seinfeld."

The show has a promising storyline: Dr. Michaela Quinn (Seymour) is a physician, the daughter of an East Coast doctor. Tired of the condescending attitude she finds among the male medical establishment, she moves West, to a job in Colorado Springs. Except the towns folk thought Dr. Quinn was a man and they're not interested. Along the way Dr. Mike adopts an orphaned family,attracts the attentions of a smoldering mountain man (Joe Lando and tries to fit in.

After a rocky start with the critics- some dismissed the pilot as corny and derivative- Quinn seems headed for raves-and ratings-as it grows.

"This is my first series," says Seymour, and I'm stunned by the reaction. Especially by women who are so thrilled that there is a role model they can respect on TV. Seymour was smitten with the show from the moment she read the pilot. "When I got to the end," she confesses, "I wept. It really struck a chord with me."

It should have. There are parallels between the actress and this part. Seymour, born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg, is the daughter of a physician, as is Michaela Quinn. Both fathers believed devoutly in their daughters. "My father never put any limitations on me as to what I could do with my life. Neither did Michaela's." And Seymour, like Dr. Quinn, left home for a better life elsewhere.