Sally Field Says She Hasn’t Spoken To Burt Reynolds ‘For The Last 30 Years Of His Life’

Silver screen icon Sally Field spoke out about her relationship with her late ex, Burt Reynolds. In an interview with The View on Tuesday morning, Field spoke about Reynolds and her new memoir, In Pieces. According to People, she and Reynolds have not spoken in about 30 years.

“He was a hugely important part of my life but for a very short period of my life,” said Field, who clarified that the pair dated for three years but were off and on for two years. But she added that after their breakup, she “really didn’t speak to him for the last 30 years of his life.”

She added that Reynolds seemed to always be reaching out to her during his interviews, both before and after their breakup.

“I would feel him kind of reach out to me via the press. It was something he would do even when we were dating. He would speak to me about things he could call me on the phone about. He would do the Today show and say, ‘I need to tell Sally…’ Well, okay!”

Sunny Hostin, a co-host of The View, brought up Reynolds’ claim that Field was the “love of his life,” which he said in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2015. Field replied to the revelation, saying, “well, in retrospect,” referring to the fact that it took Reynolds years to confess his feelings for her. She added that she was flattered that he felt that way.

On Monday night, Field sat down with Diane Sawyer for an interview and again addressed her relationship with Reynolds. She said that when they met on the set of Smokey and The Bandit in 1977, their attraction to each other was “instantaneous.” The pair dated from 1977 to 1982.

“You can see it in our faces. We were sort of, you know, deeply entangled. That nature of it wasn’t just, ‘Oh, this is a love affair.’ There was some ingredient between us having to do with my caretaking and him needing to be taken care of,” said Reynolds.

When speaking about her book earlier this month, Field said that she was glad that Reynolds didn’t have the chance to read her memoir. She spoke with the New York Times and said that her book would hurt him.

“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,” Field said, referring to the book being released after Reynolds’ death.