Is This What Really Led To Sally Field's Split From Burt Reynolds?
Burt Reynolds became a megastar thanks to the success of his 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit," which co-starred Sally Field. Together, they were a match made in heaven, both on and off-screen — the two dated on-and-off for several years after making the movie.
Field was instantly smitten with Reynolds when they met, and he seemed to share the sentiment. He referred to Field on several occasions as being the "love of his life," and while on a press tour for his memoir "But Enough About Me" in 2015, he admitted that he had regrets about their 1982 split. When he died in September 2018, Field put out a press statement that said, "There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even forty years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live."
In Dave Karger's book "50 Oscar Nights," Field revealed why they ultimately split up. Reynolds was jealous when she'd been nominated for for Best Actress in a Leading Role in the 1979 film "Norma Rae" and refused to go to Cannes with her. "He really was not a nice guy around me then," said Field who ultimately won the award, adding, "He said, 'You don't think you're going to win anything, do you?' " He then declined attending the Academy Awards with her, via People, and after that, they were done.
Sally Field was the one that got away
In his book, "But Enough About Me: A Memoir," Reynolds dedicated an entire chapter to his relationship with Sally Field. He was upset that their romance didn't work out, recalling, "I would've been better when I was grown up and a lot more mature. I was pretty wild." Wishing he had done things differently, he admitted, "It was real. I really cared for her. She's very, very special."
Reynolds had a very public romance with "WKRP in Cincinnati" star Loni Anderson, and the two got married in April 1988; they divorced in 1993 with Anderson receiving $47,000 a month in alimony payments. In 1988, the two had adopted a boy named Quinton, and Anderson said Reynolds expressed his love by showering the child with gifts instead of giving him hugs. She explained that his approach was because his own father was rather cold to him. She stated Reynolds once lamented his relationship with his dad by saying, "I would have killed for a hug from him."
Despite his marriage to Anderson, Reynolds loved Field for decades after their split. In the documentary "I am Burt Reynolds," the iconic said that while he had a relatively long relationship with Anderson, he felt that Field was the one he should have married, and he wished they'd had kids together. Looking back, he remarked, "I screwed up."
It wasn't in the cards for Field and Reynolds
Sally Field had one other complaint about her relationship with Burt Reynolds. During an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," a fan asked what her worst on-screen kiss had ever been. She admitted that she hated locking lips with Reynolds. "I just was not something he did very well," she joked, adding that there was quite a bit of "drooling" during those kisses.
On a more serious note, Field, who appeared on the game show "The Dating Game" in 1966 before her big break in Hollywood, wrote an autobiography in 2018 called "In Pieces," in which she opened up about her complicated relationship with Reynolds. "By the time we met, the weight of his stardom had become a way for Burt to control everyone around him, and from the moment I walked through the door, it was a way to control me," she wrote.
In September 2018, Field told Closer Weekly about their relationship's downward spiral. "He gave me a feeling that I was sexy, and I wanted to be everything he ever wanted. [But] that was terrible because what happened is that I stopped existing. I dressed for him, looked for him, walked for him," she said, adding that while he'd proposed often, she knew it wasn't meant to be. After his death, she told The New York Times she was glad Reynolds wouldn't have the opportunity to read her book, feeling that it would have hurt him drastically.