Susan Sarandon reveals she ‘never wanted to get married’ to Chris

Susan Sarandon has been private about her love life as she has built a career that has included the hit films The Client, Bull Durham, Thelma & Louise and Dead Man Walking.

But this week the 74-year-old screen legend appeared on the podcast Divorced Not Dead to dish about her love life with Ladies Of London star Caroline Stanbury.

The beauty not only made rare comments about her only husband, Chris Sarandon – whom she tied the knot with to avoid expulsion from their Catholic college – but she also touched on how her 21-year relationship with 62-year-old Tim Robbins fell apart and why she had to split with ‘jealous, angry’ 43-year-old Jonathan Bricklin.

The way they were: Susan Sarandon has revealed she ‘never wanted to get married’ to her ex-husband, actor Chris Sarandon; they are pictured in 1975

Susan Tomalin was a 17-year-old at the Catholic University Of America in Washington, D.C. when she met Chris who was a graduate student.

‘And so we kind of eventually dated, eventually my first sexual experience, and I was so grateful I decided to get married. And only because we would’ve gotten kicked out of school. So we agreed that we would decide every year whether or not to renew because I didn’t like the idea of taking it for granted,’ she dished.

‘So every year we would decide if we wanted to stay married and after seven years we decided mutually to move on, which was, you know, how many people can actually stay married for a lifetime to the first person they sleep with? And that would be quite an accomplishment, right?’

They married in 1967 and finally divorced in 1979, but Susan kept his surname and developed an acting career that far and away eclipsed his.

Benefit of hindsight: The 74-year-old screen legend appeared on the podcast Divorced Not Dead to dish about her love life with Ladies Of London star Caroline Stanbury; pictured in 2020

Benefit of hindsight: The 74-year-old screen legend appeared on the podcast Divorced Not Dead to dish about her love life with Ladies Of London star Caroline Stanbury; pictured in 2020

Although she had multiple long-term relationships – including with Franco Amurri and Tim Robbins, the fathers of her children – she never remarried.

As far as shorter-term relationships are concerned her dating history includes famous names ranging from Sean Penn to David Bowie to Louis Malle.

She spent four years in the 1980s with Franco by whom she welcomed her eldest child and only daughter Eva Amurri, 35.

Then from 1988 to 2009 she was involved with Tim, whom she met while they were working on the baseball movie Bull Durham and started dating afterwards.

Side by side: She spent four years in the 1980s with Franco Amurri by whom she welcomed her eldest child and only daughter Eva Amurri, 35; the couple are pictured in 1985

Side by side: She spent four years in the 1980s with Franco Amurri by whom she welcomed her eldest child and only daughter Eva Amurri, 35; the couple are pictured in 1985

They also welcomed two children together, a 28-year-old musician and actor named Miles and 31-year-old director Jack. 

‘I just always was afraid of taking each other for granted because you’re married, you know, waking up in the morning and having to recommit,’ she explained.

‘But of course, after awhile in a relationship if you get a bunch of kids and a bunch of real estate and you’ve been together for 20-some – you do, I mean it’s hard not to take each other for granted.;

Tim was the only man she was with for over 20 years. 

‘But I don’t know, it just, for me I wasn’t interested in it. I don’t know why. My parents were married. It wasn’t a big deal.’

She mused: ‘Maybe it was a fear, you know, of losing your identity when you become a couple is so easy to have happen. Maybe it was partly that. And I always – one thing I did always stress with my daughter is to have your own income.’

Power couple: Then from 1988 to 2009 she was involved with Tim, whom she met while they were working on the baseball movie Bull Durham; they are pictured at the 2008 Emmys

Power couple: Then from 1988 to 2009 she was involved with Tim, whom she met while they were working on the baseball movie Bull Durham; they are pictured at the 2008 Emmys

Over the years she has had a fondness for younger men, including Franco and Tim who as she pointed out were both 12 years her junior.

Her biggest age gap however was with screenwriter Jonathan Bricklin, who is 31 years younger than Susan and is the son of famous businessman Malcolm Bricklin.

Susan confessed ‘that one of the problems of finding guys in my age bracket is that so many of them are just trying to preserve the status quo at this point and hold on for dear life, and they’re not open and curious.’ 

She and Jonathan were together from 2010 until 2015 during which time ‘he was very jealous, really jealous’ of her relationship with her sons, Susan alleged.

As seen in 2014: Her biggest age gap however was with screenwriter Jonathan Bricklin, who is 31 years younger than Susan and is the son of famous businessman Malcolm Bricklin; seen in 2014 in Geneva

As seen in 2014: Her biggest age gap however was with screenwriter Jonathan Bricklin, who is 31 years younger than Susan and is the son of famous businessman Malcolm Bricklin; seen in 2014 in Geneva

‘And I think part of it was because he didn’t have a close relationship with his mom. And he saw that – it drove him crazy. He was jealous, definitely,’ she claimed.

Where the romance was concerned the sticking point was largely ‘that I was in the limelight and there was a lot of negative – because of the age difference initially – a lot of the negative demeaning press towards him.’

The Thelma And Louise star added: ‘My career was more established and was bigger. And it seemed eventually to him, he wasn’t – after five years he just couldn’t deal with the anger that he had towards what seemed like everything was about me. He wasn’t developed enough. Now that could’ve had to do with age.’

Later she admitted that in relationships generally: ‘I’m so over-nurturing, this is the problem. I do too much! And so then, you know, who wants to f*** their mother after a while? No, I have to learn how to pull back and not do everything.’ 

Flashback: She revealed that 'I wish that first of all I had understood that I was beautiful, which I didn’t at the time'; Susan is pictured in her 1970 movie debut Joe

Flashback: She revealed that ‘I wish that first of all I had understood that I was beautiful, which I didn’t at the time’; Susan is pictured in her 1970 movie debut Joe

While dating is still on the table ‘it certainly would take something extraordinary to share my medicine cabinet at this point. I think that those days are over.’

Looking back over her life she said: ‘I just wish I had made my mistakes faster. They were all very productive choices in terms of lessons learned.’

Having worked so constantly throughout her life, either as an actress or a mother, she also revealed, ‘I wish I’d had a little more fun, honestly.’

She elaborated that ‘I wish that first of all I had understood that I was beautiful, which I didn’t at the time. And I wish that I had just the mistakes, the lessons that I was learning, kind of showed themselves and I really needed to be hit over the head with them before I, you know, moved onto the next lesson sometimes.’ 

'I think that those days are over': While dating is still on the table 'it certainly would take something extraordinary to share my medicine cabinet at this point'; pictured in 2019

‘I think that those days are over’: While dating is still on the table ‘it certainly would take something extraordinary to share my medicine cabinet at this point’; pictured in 2019