Inside Sally Field's Relationship History With Her Ex-Husbands And Past Boyfriends
Trigger warning: The following article contains mentions of sexual assault and suicide.
Sally Field has been America's sweetheart since she came onto the scene in the mid-1960s as a teenage actor. Over the years, she has enjoyed the trappings of Hollywood stardom — international fame, fortune, and her choice of all the available bachelors at her disposal. Sadly, Field came from an abusive household, so her perception of love created difficulty in her relationships for years.
She spoke about this with O, The Oprah Magazine in 2008, saying, "I was attracted only to men I simultaneously feared and loved. My stepfather was both cruel and loving, and therefore our relationship was very confusing. ... Even though my mother is a loving person, she and my real father were extremely passive and repressed. My stepfather, on the other hand, created a situation in which my survival was dependent on getting angry."
Fortunately, Field is now in a better place and, happily single, she has been able to look back on many of her relationships with this in mind. However, if there's one thing her fans love to hear about, it's the juicy details of the "Smokey and the Bandit" actor's dating history with some of the most famous men in the entertainment industry. From her early romance with Lee Majors to what really happened between her and Burt Reynolds, here's a look inside Sally Field's relationship history with her ex-husbands and past boyfriends.
Sally Field was rumored to have dated Lee Majors
As Sally Field established her acting career in the mid-to-late 1960s, she dated many influential men. At the time, Lee Majors was also an up-and-coming star, and the two ended up linked romantically. In 1972, TV Picture Life magazine reported that the Field and Majors were connected sometime between the time "The Big Valley" actor dated his co-star Linda Evans and when he was seeing Mary Ann Mobley.
Majors even put his dating history in song form with his 1981 single "Unknown Stuntman," a tune that served as the theme song for "The Fall Guy," in which the actor also starred. If the lyrics are anything to go off of, Major has bragged about his many romances with film and television leading ladies, as he sang, "Well I'm not the kind to kiss and tell, but I've been seen with Farrah / I've never been with anything less than a nine, so fine / I've been on fire with Sally Field." Of course, Majors went on to marry Farrah Fawcett in 1973, so it's believable that his song is rooted in truth.
She first publicly dated Pete Duel in 1967
Sally Field was early in her career when she landed the titular role in the 1965 show "Gidget" playing the titular 15-year-old surfer girl. Her character's brother-in-law was played by Pete Duel, and after the sitcom ended in 1966, they struck up a romance. According to an interview Field did for Movieland and TV Time in 1967, their relationship wasn't all too serious, as many of the tabloids had been pronouncing. "If you go out with a guy in this town more than five times, everybody has you married to him the next week. But Pete and I just rise above it. Because we do enjoy each other. ... We're having fun, man. Just fun. And that's so rare in itself, why can't they just let it alone?" she said.
Tragically, on December 31, 1971, Duel was discovered dead in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Field remembered her time with the actor in a 2007 video, saying, "I loved Pete. Loved him, loved him, loved him, loved him. ... Bless him and god damn him because he isn't alive. ... I'm sure I'm not the only one in the world that wished he hadn't done that." She added that she admired Duel's talent and that he'd often treated her like a sister, much to her dismay.
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Sally Field had a non-exclusive relationship with Davy Jones in 1968
As she neared the late '60s, it was clear Sally Field's career was taking off as she had just secured her role in "The Flying Nun" around the same time that she dated a member of The Monkees at the height of their fame. According to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, a February 1968 issue of Monkee Spectacular outlined Field's relationship with Davy Jones, noting that they weren't in an exclusive relationship.
The magazine also included an interview with Sally Field in which she described first meeting the band member. "I first met Davy when he crowned the winner of the Miss Teen International Pageant at the Hollywood Palladium. But that night I only got to talk to him for a few minutes. ... When I saw Davy at the studio I thought he was so neat. What's great is that when we got talking, I found we had the same sense of humor. We laugh all the time and just goof around," she said.
Unfortunately, dating Jones wasn't all fun and games for Field as she wrote in her memoir "In Pieces" about the sexual innuendos that The Monkees would allegedly make toward her on the set of "The Flying Nun." The actor also shared that the music group had at one time cornered her in her trailer until an assistant helped her out of the situation.
She had a disturbing encounter with boyfriend Jimmy Webb
Sally Field was a year into her famed role as Sister Bertrille in the comedic series "The Flying Nun" when she began dating singer and songwriter Jimmy Webb. The actor wrote about many of her experiences in her 2018 memoir "In Pieces," but her passage about a disturbing encounter with Webb turned some heads. As Field wrote, she and the singer had smoked a joint and she had later awoken to Webb "on top of me, grinding away to another melody." She clarified that it wasn't her belief he had any "malicious intent," as Field explained he was very much under the influence.
In September 2018, Webb responded to Field's allegations of assault in an email to the New York Times. "All I can do is recount my memories of dating Sally in the swingin' 1960s. Sally and I were young, successful stars in Hollywood. We dated and did what 22-year-olds did in the late 60s — we hung out, we smoked pot, we had sex. ... I have great memories of our times together and great respect for Sally — so much respect that I didn't write about her in my book because I didn't want to tarnish her Gidget image with our stories of drugs and sex," he wrote.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Sally Field was married to Steven Craig from 1968 to 1975
As Sally Field was becoming a recognized figure in the industry, she married her high school sweetheart Steven Craig in 1968. He was a construction contractor and led a less glamorous career than his wife, though she still brought him along to movie premieres and other Hollywood events. While Field was filming "The Flying Nun," she became pregnant with their first son, Peter, who arrived in November 1969. Then, in May 1972, the couple welcomed their second son Eli to the world.
Little has been reported about Craig or the downfall of his and Field's marriage, which ended in 1975. However, during a September 1998 interview with Entertainment Weekly, their son Peter gave a little bit of insight as to what it was like to grow up with them as parents. "I knew early on that my mother wasn't like other moms. And my father, who lives on this quasi-commune in Oregon, wasn't really like other dads. In a way, my whole life has been full of extremes." By that time, Peter had become a novelist, married a poet, and was living in — and writing about — Hollywood. "This is what happens when you have dramatic parents, I guess," he said.
She almost went on a date with Steven Spielberg in the '70s
By the '70s, Sally Field had a stunning transformation and she was catching the eyes of many Hollywood men. According to the actor, it was a little game of match-making that nearly had her paired up with another then-rising star: Steven Spielberg.
While presenting the director with the Vanguard Award at the 34th Palm Springs Film Awards in January 2023, Field revealed a long-kept secret: she and Spielberg almost dated back in the day. "My newly acquired business manager wanted me to meet one of his clients and wanted me to go to Universal for a supposed 'meeting' because he thought the two of us would really hit it off. And though we never actually went on a date together, my beloved Steven Spielberg has never left my life," she said, via People.
They eventually got to work together on Spielberg's 2012 movie "Lincoln," which saw Field playing Mary Todd alongside Daniel Day-Lewis. Her close relationship with Spielberg stood the test of time, as the director gushed about his friend to Variety in March 2022. "As an actor, she dared this town to typecast her, and then simply broke through every dogmatic barrier to find her own way ... to great roles in great films and television," he said. "Through her consistently good taste and feisty persistence, she has survived our ever-changing culture, stood the test of time, and earned this singular place in history."
She dated Burt Reynolds on and off in the '70s and '80s
Despite being perhaps a little unlucky in love, Sally Field was becoming more successful in her career when she played Carrie in 1977's "Smokey and the Bandit" alongside Burt Reynolds. It was a part that would serve as her breakout film role, secure her first Golden Globe nomination, and introduce her to what was possibly her most tumultuous on-again-off-again relationship yet.
Field and Reynolds quickly became Hollywood's hottest couple and co-starred in 1978's "Hooper," but the two weren't good together by the "Forrest Gump" actor's account. In Dave Karger's 2024 book "50 Oscar Nights," she explained that Reynolds refused to attend the 52nd Academy Awards with her because "he really was not a nice guy around me then and was not going to go with me." Field went anyway and won her very first Oscar that night.
A few years before Reynold's death in 2018, he admitted that Field was "the one who got away" and "the love of [his] life." However, Field wasn't having any of this and told Variety in March 2022 that Reynolds wasn't being truthful in his confession. "He was not someone I could be around. He was just not good for me in any way. And he had somehow invented in his rethinking of everything that I was more important to him than he had thought, but I wasn't," she explained.
Sally Field went on a few dates with Kevin Kline in 1982
She was fresh off the set of "Kiss Me Goodbye" in 1982 when Sally Field started dating Hollywood's new It-guy Kevin Kline. A fellow actor, he had just worked on Meryl Streep's latest film "Sophie's Choice" and the two seemed perfect for one another. Unfortunately, their romance soon fizzled — if it was ever there at all — as Field and Kline only went on a few dates. They did team up again, though, for 1991's rom-com "Soapdish," in which they played ex-lovers.
Little is known about Field's and Kline's relationship, but in an October 1984 interview with People, it was clear her outlook on love had changed. "I don't want to play any role unless it's one I choose to play onscreen. I don't want to feel I have to obey anybody else's rules except my own. It's taken me a long time to say to a guy, 'I'd laugh at that joke but it's not funny,'" she said. Perhaps it was Kline she was referring to, or maybe it was the lasting effect Burt Reynolds had on Field, but she was clearly no longer going to be putting herself second.
She dated Johnny Carson briefly in the early '80s
Sally Field has had many high-profile relationships over the years, but she was never great at letting men down. When she found herself going out with Johnny Carson in the '80s before she began dating her second husband, the sparks simply weren't flying and she went to extreme measures to end things with the talk show host. Field spoke about letting Carson down while on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" in February 2019. "I was never a person that knew how to say no to people. ... The only way I could get out of things was to tell people I had lost my mind. ... I told him I was having a breakdown and I was being sent away," she explained. "I couldn't figure out how to say 'I'm really just not into this.'"
After things ended with Carson, Field played the widow Edna Spalding in "Places in the Heart," and it turned out to be the thing she needed most. As the actor explained to People that same year, "[Playing Edna] changed my vision of myself. For the past four years, I found myself being the kind of person who said, 'I don't want anybody. I don't need anybody.' I was sort of chanting that subconsciously to myself, like the little engine that could. Edna opened me up. I found that people are meant to need one another. I've spent most of my life saying 'Oh, no they're not!'"
Sally Field was married to Alan Greisman from 1984 to 1994
Sally Field had been divorced for nearly a decade and her relationship with Burt Reynolds had only just recently ended when she met film producer Alan Greisman at a restaurant. It wasn't quite love at first sight, as they didn't begin dating until a year and a half later. However, when Field and Greisman did eventually hit it off, they tied the knot after dating for less than a year. By 1987, Sam — their only child together — was born and he has remained exceptionally close with his movie star mother throughout his life.
During a January 1996 interview with People, Field explained where the cracks began to form in their relationship. "He wanted to go out, to be with people or go to parties. I couldn't take it. I'd have an anxiety attack. ... The joy had gone out of Mudville. Instead of appreciating what we cared about in each other, we focused on the negative things. I didn't want to live in a household that was tense and unhappy," she said. Ultimately, the "Mrs. Doubtfire" actor expressed to Greisman that she didn't think their situation was healthy for either of them, let alone their son.
They divorced in 1994 but remained focused on raising their son together. Field's actor friend and wife of Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw, even told People at the time, "They have such a nice divorce. They are great at co-parenting."
She was quiet about her 1995 relationship with Jerry Knight
After Sally Field's second marriage fell apart, she seemed to shut down a little bit about her love life. She had just given a brilliant performance in "Forrest Gump" and was starring in the mini-series "A Woman of Independent Means" when she showed up to the "Waterworld" premiere in 1995, her date in tow. Jerry Knight, who worked as a gaffer, electrician, and technician for television and film productions, posed with the movie star at the event. Then, Field took Knight along with her to the 47th Emmy Awards and they were all smiles as they held hands on the red carpet.
Their split was quiet, and following the "Eye for an Eye" actor's separation from Knight, Field seemed to stop dating altogether. She was no longer spotted out and about with her newest beau and the tabloids didn't have much dirt to dig up on the actor. She was simply going about her life, raising her youngest son, and continuing her work in front of the camera. Now, nearly three decades on from her last serious relationship, Field seems content with this way of life.
Sally Field has been single for years
After decades of whirlwind romances with Hollywood's most eligible bachelors, it seems that Sally Field is content with the single life. While some might view this as tragic, the "Forrest Gump" star assured that she's happy right now without a man.
In December 2021, Field spoke with Karen Grigsby Bates for "Live Talks LA" about how she's taking a step back to analyze her previous relationships. "I'm examining how I would constantly look for love and how I was taught to recognize what love is. ... I don't feel seen and loved unless I'm also terrified. There's something wrong with that," she remarked, laughing. When asked whether this is a pattern she still sees today, Field replied, "Now I don't even try. ... I'm really happy with how I am and I really don't want to pick your underwear up in the morning anyway."
While Field insists she's happy going through her life solo, that doesn't mean all her options have dried up. In fact, after working with Tom Brady during the 2023 movie "80 for Brady," the retired NFL quarterback joked that there could be a romantic future in store for them. "[Field and I] did have kind of an on-camera little, you know, thing going. ... We really enjoyed our time together, so we'll see where it goes from here," he jested during a January 2023 episode of "Let's Go! With Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jim Gray."