In his new memoir, actor Burt Reynolds writes about the highs and lows of his life in the spotlight, opening up from his love life to combating AIDS rumors.
In a wide-ranging interview with Lara Spencer of “Good Morning America,” the legendary actor looks back on his relationship with two-time Oscar winner, Sally Field, whom he calls “the love of my life.”
Burt admits that, today, he still thinks about her. “I do miss her,” he said. “I think she was one of the most underrated actresses, you know? She was the best actress I ever worked with.” The former couple starred together in the 1977 film, Smokey and the Bandit.
He acknowledged that he blew it with the actress.
“I listened to a bunch of people that had no right to be talking,” he said.
It was Field who convinced him to do that famous nude centerfold for Cosmopolitan magazine in 1972. Reynolds became the magazine’s first male centerfold.
In the 1980s, Burt Reynolds, now 79, faced harsh speculation that he was dying of AIDS, after a dramatic weight loss.
In his memoir, Burt discusses what actually caused him to lose so much weight in such a short period of time, as well as the ways in which he combatted those devastating rumors.
Burt reveals that his weightloss was because of his addiction to prescription pain killers, following a jaw injury and not due to him having contracted AIDS.
It was a truly difficult time in his life, but Burt worked through it the only way he knew how to. “I just kept working,” he said, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I thought the only way to make these rumors go away is to keep working… it really was an awful period.”
Reynolds now spends his days teaching acting classes and has had parts in a couple of recent independent films.
"But Enough About Me" is now available to purchase.
