The Melrose diva's new focus: family.
BY STEPHANIE MANSFIELD

There's one word that's not in Heather Locklear's vocabulary: victim. "No," she says, shaking her tousled head. "Try not to be."
     Locklear, 37, known for her longevity in a town where divas du jour quickly fade into obscurity, is relaxing in her trailer on the set of Fox's Melrose Place. She's tiny, with knockout blue eyes, a size-2 gray micro skirt and strappy 4-inch sandals buckled over a crimson heart tattoo.
     Before her seven seasons as Amanda Woodward, acid-tongued corporate vixen, Locklear had roles on TV's T.J. Hooker and Dynasty. And though she flirted with feature films, she says she is content with nighttime soaps. "I know what I'm grateful for, and what I have right now. And if it can go somewhere else later, that's great. And if it doesn't, I can't complain."
     This year, Locklear has taken on new duties as Melrose co-producer, a testament to her drawing power. Says the show's creator and her longtime friend, Aaron Spelling, "The only bad letters I've ever received were from people saying, 'We're not seeing enough of Heather.' "
     Certainly becoming a mother has changed her priorities. She and her second husband, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, are the parents of 15-month-old Ava, and Locklear now takes either Friday or Monday off to have a long weekend at home.
     It has made her a different person. "Sometimes I fight against the person it's made me, saying, 'No, no, that's not me.' I don't have the freedom to have highs and lows. I can't do that. That's totally changed."
     Locklear and Sambora exhibit all the obsessional behavior of new parents. "We'll go out together, to dinner, and both say, 'We miss our baby. We have to go see our baby.' "
     As if on cue, the telephone next to her rings. "Hello, darling," she says in a singsong voice. "We were just talking about you." She hands over the phone. Sambora says fatherhood "has totally jump-started my life."
     "Awww," Locklear coos.
     Clearly, this is a joyous love for the actress, whose first husband, Motley Crue's Tommy Lee, served three months in prison last year after assaulting his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee. "You have to have a bad one to appreciate a good one."
     She says she was not surprised at the news. As for Pamela, "She doesn't seem to be a victim now. She put him where he is." With that, Locklear throws back her head and lets out a wicked, Amanda-like laugh.