Susan Sarandon feared losing her identity which kept her from marrying anyone else after her first divorce.
If Susan Sarandon had her way, she wouldn't have ever gotten married. In fact, she only got married once and that ended in divorce seven years later. Her independence and her identity were what mattered the most to her.
Back in 1967, she said "I do" for the first and only time to fellow actor Chris Sarandon because it was what was expected of the two students at the Catholic University of America, she revealed in the Divorced, Not Dead podcast.
"I was in college at 17," the Oscar winner told host Caroline Stanbury. "We kind of eventually dated. Eventually, my first sexual experience. 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."
However, after seven years of marriage, she said "we decided to mutually move on." The couple was together from 1967 to 1979.
"(I) never wanted to get married the first time," she added.
Sarandon retained her maiden name, Tomalin, post-divorce. The couple didn't have any kids together.
After her divorce, the Tammy actress had a number of relationships with some big names, including Sean Penn and David Bowie. However, she never again married anyone.
She dated director Franco Amurri from 1984 to 1988, and together, the two of them had a daughter, Eva Amurri. In the late 1980s, she met actor Tim Robbins while they were filming for Bull Durham. Despite having an age gap—he was 12 years younger than Sarandon—they went on to have two sons, Jack and Miles.
After she had the two sons, troubles arose. Though Robbins thought of Eva as "a bonus daughter" and Eva equally "adored" Robbins, he could not accept the boys.
"He was very jealous, really jealous of the boys," Sarandon said. "Part of it was because he didn't have a close relationship with his mom. He saw (the closeness between Sarandon and their sons and) that drove him crazy. He was jealous. Definitely."
Robbins and Sarandon split in 2009 and she went on to date Ping-Pong entrepreneur Jonathan Bricklin from 2010 to 2015.
Despite refusing to marry a second time, Sarandon said she understands why it appeals to people. "After a while in a relationship, if you get a bunch of kids and a bunch of real estate, and you've been together for 27 (years), you do (get married)," she said. "I mean, it's hard not to take each other for granted.... I don't know it just for me, I, I wasn't interested in it. I don't know why my parents were married."
What Sarandon really values is her independence. "Maybe it was a fear of losing your identity," she said. "When you become a couple (that's) so easy to have happen. Maybe it was partly that."
She's also made sure to pass on that message to her children as well. "One thing I did always stress with my daughter was to have your own income," she said.
"I'm pretty open to the idea of, of being with someone, but it certainly would take something extraordinary to share my medicine cabinet at this point," she added.
References:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-according-to-susan-sarandon/id1524317541?i=1000512367586
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