Hollywood loves a good ghost story. Not the kind with rattling chains, but the kind where a relationship dies decades ago yet refuses to stay buried. For nearly forty years, the names Sally Field and Burt Reynolds were tethered together by a string of 1970s blockbusters and a headline-grabbing romance. If you asked Burt toward the end of his life, he’d tell you she was the one who got away. He called her the "love of his life" until the day he died in 2018.
But if you ask Sally? Well, the truth is a lot messier than a late-career press tour.
The Smokey and the Bandit Spark
They met in 1977. Burt was the biggest star in the world—the mustache, the laugh, the Trans Am. Sally was the "Girl Next Door" trying to outrun her Gidget image. When they filmed Smokey and the Bandit, the chemistry wasn't just acting. It was instant.
Burt actually fought for her to be in that movie. The studio didn't think she was "sexy" enough. Can you believe that? Burt told them she was the only one for the role because "talent is sexy." It’s a great line, and it worked. They ended up making four movies together, including Hooper and The End. On screen, they were the ultimate American couple. Off screen, things were starting to fray at the edges almost as soon as they began.
Why it wasn't a Fairytale
Burt had this reputation as a man’s man, a rogue, a charmer. But Sally’s 2018 memoir, In Pieces, pulled back the curtain on a much darker dynamic. She described a relationship defined by control.
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Basically, Burt wasn't great at sharing the spotlight. When Sally started getting serious "prestige" buzz for Norma Rae, things got weird. Most boyfriends would be thrilled, right? Not Burt. Sally revealed that he actually refused to go to the Academy Awards with her in 1980. Think about that: she was nominated for Best Actress (which she won), and the man she lived with wouldn't even put on a tux to sit in the audience.
- He reportedly told her, "You don't think you're going to win anything, do you?"
- He tried to talk her out of going to the Cannes Film Festival.
- She felt she had to "housebreak" her own personality to keep him happy.
It's a classic Hollywood tragedy. The more she grew as an artist, the more he seemed to resent her. You’ve probably seen this pattern before, but seeing it play out between two icons makes it sting a little more.
The "Love of My Life" Disconnect
One of the strangest things about Sally Field and Burt Reynolds is how they remembered the relationship after it ended in the early 80s.
Burt spent his final years in a state of deep regret. In his 2015 memoir, But Enough About Me, he was shockingly blunt. He said he "screwed it up" and that he missed her terribly. It was a vulnerable, almost desperate public confession.
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Sally’s reaction? Honestly, it was pretty chilly.
She didn't talk to him for the last 30 years of his life. Not once. When he was calling her the love of his life in every interview, she was essentially saying, "That's not how I remember it." She later told Variety that he had "invented" a version of her in his head that didn't exist. She felt he loved the idea of her, or maybe just the thing he couldn't have anymore.
The Timing of the Tell-All
There’s a bit of a haunting coincidence here. Sally’s memoir, which detailed the "hurtful" and "complicated" nature of their five years together, was scheduled for release in September 2018.
Burt died just days before it hit the shelves.
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Sally has said she felt a sense of relief that he didn't have to read it. She didn't want to hurt him, but she had to tell her truth. She even skipped his funeral, though she released a beautiful statement saying he would be in her "history and heart" forever. She called him "Buddy," a nickname his family used, which felt like a quiet nod to the man behind the persona.
What We Can Learn from the Fallout
Relationships between high-profile creatives are notoriously difficult, but the story of Sally Field and Burt Reynolds is a masterclass in power imbalances.
- Support isn't optional. If your partner can't celebrate your biggest wins—like an Oscar win—the foundation is already cracked.
- Narratives change over time. Burt’s nostalgia was a form of grief, but Sally’s distance was a form of self-preservation. Both can be true at the same time.
- Growth requires space. Sally Field went on to win two Oscars and become a legend on her own terms. It’s hard to imagine that happening if she had stayed in Burt's shadow.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into this era of Hollywood, picking up In Pieces is a must. It’s not a "kiss and tell" book; it’s a raw look at how a woman finds her voice after being told to keep it down for years. You might also want to re-watch Smokey and the Bandit—knowing what was happening behind the camera makes those scenes in the Trans Am feel completely different.
Check out Sally’s 1980 Oscar acceptance speech on YouTube. It’s a moment of pure, unadulterated joy that she had to experience without the man she loved by her side. That tells you everything you need to know.