The Hollywood star Sally Field recently spoke out to blast her ex-boyfriend Burt Reynolds, who died five years ago in September of 2018 at the age of 82.
While being interviewed by Dave Karger for his upcoming book 50 Oscar Nights, which is set to be released on January 23, Field, now 77, claimed that Reynolds “was not happy” with the Oscar buzz that she was receiving for her work in Norma Rae back in 1980 ahead of the 52nd Academy Awards ceremony.
“He really was not a nice guy around me then,” Field said in an excerpt obtained by People Magazine, adding that Reynolds “was not going to go” as her date.
“He did not want me to go to Cannes [Film Festival] at all,” she continued. “He said, ‘You don’t think you’re going to win anything, do you?’”
Field went on to say that “when the Oscars came around, he really was not a nice guy around me then and was not going to go with me.” It was ultimately the actor and comedian David Steinberg and his then-wife, Judy who stepped up to celebrate what would be the first of Field’s two Oscar wins with her.
“Then David said, ‘Well, for God’s sakes, we’ll take you,’” she recalled. “He and Judy made it a big celebration. They picked me up in a limousine and had champagne in the car. They made it just wonderful fun.”
Field and Reynolds dated off and on for about five years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and she has spoken out against him publicly a few times in the wake of his death. In her 2018 memoir “In Pieces,” which was released just days after Reynolds passed away, Field wrote that he “was a hugely important part of my life but for a very short period of my life… I really didn’t speak to him for the last 30 years of his life.”
When asked in a 2022 interview who her worst on-screen kiss was with, Field didn’t hesitate to respond “Burt Reynolds.”
“It was just not something he really did very well,” she added with a laugh. “I could go into detail, but you don’t want to hear it.”
After being pressed further, Field said that “a lot of drooling was involved.”
In his 2016 memoir “But Enough About Me,” Reynolds claimed that Field was the love of his life and expressed regret over not fighting harder to save their relationship. After his death, however, Field claimed that he was lying when he described her as the love of his life.
“He was not someone I could be around,” she told Variety. “He was just not good for me in any way.”
We can only imagine what Reynolds would say if he saw what Field has been saying about him in the wake of his death. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments section.
