Sally Field Says She's 'Glad' Burt Reynolds Will Never Read Her Memoir: 'This Would Hurt Him'
Sally Field is getting brutally honest when it comes to her relationship with the late Burt Reynolds.
In a new interview with The New York Times, the 71-year-old actress talks about her new memoir, In Pieces, which of course includes details about her famous relationship with the legendary actor. Reynolds died on Sept. 6 at 82 years old.
Field met Reynolds on the set of 1977's Smokey and the Bandit, and went on to co-star with him in multiple films. They split in 1982 after five years of dating.
“This would hurt him,” she bluntly says of her new book. “I felt glad that he wasn’t going to read it, he wasn’t going to be asked about it, and he wasn’t going to have to defend himself or lash out, which he probably would have. I did not want to hurt him any further.”
Clearly, Field has mixed feelings about their time together. The actress describes their relationship to The Times as “confusing and complicated, and not without loving and caring, but really complicated and hurtful to me.”
According to the newspaper, in her book, Field writes that while Reynolds was charismatic and their connection was intense, he was also controlling of her. She also claims that he used Percodan, Valium and barbiturates while filming Smokey and the Bandit -- and sometimes received mysterious injections to his chest -- but dismissed her requests for him to seek therapy for stress and anxiety.
In 2010, Reynolds underwent a quintuple heart bypass one year after entering rehab to end a reliance on a prescription drug habit acquired after back surgery.
Field says that with Reynolds, she was trying to recreate a version of her complicated relationship with her stepfather, stuntman and actor Jock Mahoney, whom she claims sexually abused her throughout her childhood. Mahoney died in 1989.
“I was somehow exorcising something that needed to be exorcised,” she says of her relationship with Reynolds. “I was trying to make it work this time.”
In a statement to ET last week, Field said she would never forget her time with the late actor.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away," the statement read. "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. Rest, Buddy.”
Clearly, Reynolds also cherished his relationship with Field. In March, he told the Today show in a rare appearance that he considered Field the love of his life.
"I miss her terribly," he also told Vanity Fair in 2015. "Even now, it's hard on me. I don't know why I was so stupid. Men are like that, you know. You find the perfect person, and then you do everything you can to screw it up."
ET spoke with Reynolds in 2015, when he continued to praise his ex.
"I do miss her. I think she was one of the most underrated actresses, you know?" he shared. "She was the best actress I ever worked with."
Watch the video below for more.
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