Buried in the debris of publicity for most of his adult life, Johnson has not only survived the white-hot lights, he's turned them inward.

As an actor, Johnson has given up his breezy banter for words of significance in his latest teleplay, "Word of Honor," premiering Saturday on TNT (check daily listings).

Johnson plays a Vietnam veteran who harbors a devastating secret that threatens to destroy several lives 30 years after the fact. How he handles the crisis examines the essence of honor.

For years it was hard to see the real Johnson behind his Nash Bridges-Sonny Crockett image. And his flamboyant lifestyle didn't help. Married and divorced twice to actress Melanie Griffith, he admitted at one time to abusing drugs and alcohol.

But now, at 53, Johnson says it was not difficult for him to hang on to his values in spite of the hysteria that swirled around him.

"I'm from the Midwest. I was born in Missouri on a farm. I have those values. And that upbringing that I have is from that time and it's with me my whole life, and I bring that to my own parenting and also to the choices I make in my work and my relationships," he says, dressed in a perfectly tailored navy-blue suit, a sky blue dress shirt and a silk navy blue tie with tiny green dots.

"I have a strong sense of values and what's really valuable in life and what things are lasting and the things that are temporary. I'm not a person who is possessed by my possessions. I'm willing to let go of things a lot more easily than I've seen in some of my other contemporaries who are defined by their big houses or cars, or those sorts of things, or their careers or stature. I don't nurture those things like other people do," he says.

Johnson is married to Montessori school teacher Kelly Phleger, with whom he has a daughter, age 4, and a son, 1›. He also has a 20-year-old son, Jesse, whose mother is actress Patti D'Arbanville and who plays Johnson as a young man in "Word of Honor." Johnson and Griffith have a 13-year-old daughter. Starting a family all over again is great, he grins.

"It's like being a father and grandfather all at once, and they're all yours.

"You get better at a lot of things as we get older. Life is a long road, and gosh knows I've made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I've learned and been fortunate enough to be given second and third and fourth and fifth chances."

Finding honor in his own business hasn't been difficult, either, he says.

"I have the same agent for 20 years, the same PR guy for 30 years. I'm a fiercely loyal person," says Johnson, seated on a nubby couch in a hotel meeting room here.

Becoming a father for the first time was a pivotal moment in his life, says Johnson, who dreams of establishing a kids' camp on acreage he owns in Missouri.

"When I had Jesse, I couldn't believe how quickly I fell in love with this little creature. It was instantaneous. And I also couldn't believe how important it was for me to be there for him every second of his life — every play date, every hockey game, every play performance. He's graduating from Occidental College this year and Jesse and I are so close, and that relationship I'm so proud of. I tell all my kids they're my favorite, but I have a special relationship with him. I think everyone does with their first child. And he's kind of grown up in my fame world."

Johnson also confesses that starring in the five-year juggernaut "Miami Vice" profoundly influenced him.

"I didn't really change, but it changed the way that I had to learn some things I never thought I'd have to learn — like how to be famous. You can learn how to be an actor, being famous is a very different ball of wax. And fame as we know it in the 20th century — and as we know it in the last 20 years — is completely different. It's a different landscape out there. It's a different time. There are greater demands put on you. The scrutiny ...

"They get away with saying things like you're a public figure, but even public figures have the right to a private life. And there is no such thing for celebrities these days. And people take advantage of that as well. It made me have to learn how to do things I didn't necessarily think I'd ever have to do."

Today he's easier in his skin, he says. "I'm better now. First, I'm much more comfortable with it and secondly I don't give a damn about it," he chuckles.

"I think it was the late, great Katharine Hepburn who said, 'I don't care what anybody writes about me as long as it's not true.' And by and large, nothing anybody has written about me has been true. So what do I care?" he laughs.