Host Andy Cohen encouraged her.
“I think you should.”
Field finally gave in.
“Okay. This is going to be a shocker. Hold on folks.”
Then she revealed the answer.
Burt Reynolds.
The admission was especially surprising because Reynolds wasn’t just one of her co-stars.
The two had also been romantically involved off-screen.
Cohen quickly pointed that out.
“But weren’t you dating at the time?”
Field explained that while filming *Smokey and the Bandit*, she sometimes had to simply look past the awkwardness because kissing apparently wasn’t one of Reynolds’ strongest talents.
She said it was something he “just was not” particularly good at and added that there was quite a bit of “drooling” involved.
Cohen appeared stunned by the answer.
“Isn’t that something.”
Field and Reynolds first met while making *Smokey and the Bandit* in 1977.
Their chemistry on screen helped make the film memorable, and their relationship soon continued away from the cameras.
They reportedly dated for around five years.
Their relationship became one of Hollywood’s most talked-about romances of that era, but behind the public image, things were far more complicated.
Field would later speak openly about the relationship and make it clear that the reality had not been as romantic as some fans imagined.
Reynolds, who died in 2018 at the age of 82, also reflected on Field in later years.
In his memoir *But Enough About Me*, he reportedly expressed regret about how their relationship ended and suggested that he wished he had handled things differently.
But Field’s perspective was considerably more complicated.
In an interview with *Variety*, she explained that she had deliberately stopped speaking to Reynolds for roughly the final three decades of his life.
Her reason was direct.
“He was not someone I could be around. He was just not good for me in any way.”
Field went on to say that she believed Reynolds had later created a version of their relationship in his memory that did not reflect how she experienced it.
“And he had somehow invented in his rethinking of everything that I was more important to him than he had thought, but I wasn’t. He just wanted to have the thing he didn’t have. I just didn’t want to deal with that.”
The comments offered a much more complicated picture of a romance that many fans had once viewed as one of Hollywood’s classic love stories.
Field’s own life and career, of course, extend far beyond that relationship.
Born in Pasadena, California, she grew up in a family connected to the entertainment industry, but her childhood was not always easy.
In her memoir, Field wrote candidly about painful experiences in her youth, including abuse by her stepfather and an abortion she underwent at 17.
Despite those difficulties, she went on to build one of the most respected acting careers of her generation.
Her emotional range became one of her defining strengths.
One of her most unforgettable performances came in *Steel Magnolias*, particularly during the funeral scene in which her character moves through grief, rage, heartbreak, and helplessness in a matter of moments.
It remains one of the scenes many fans still associate most strongly with her talent.
Field also became beloved for performances across comedy, drama, television, and film.
Over the years, she proved equally convincing as a romantic lead, a grieving mother, a determined activist, and a warm comedic presence.
Even later in her career, she continued working steadily.
She appeared as Janice in the series *Dispatches From Elsewhere* and later played Jessie Buss in *Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty*, which explored the professional and personal world surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1980s.
After decades in Hollywood, Field has become known not only for her performances but also for speaking candidly about her life.
That honesty was on full display when she was asked about her worst on-screen kiss.
Of all the actors she has worked with throughout her remarkable career, few probably expected the answer to be Burt Reynolds.
Their romance may once have looked glamorous from the outside, but Field’s comments have made clear that her memories of the relationship—and apparently some of their kisses—were much less romantic than audiences might have imagined.
Through it all, Sally Field remains one of Hollywood’s most respected and enduring performers, with a body of work that has left a lasting mark across generations.