Few actors have navigated Hollywood’s highs and lows like Sally Field. A two-time Oscar winner, she’s also a survivor—of childhood abuse, toxic relationships, and an industry that tried to pigeonhole her.
Her early life was shadowed by her stepfather’s abuse, which began when she was 14. In In Pieces, she recounts how he summoned her to his room, leaving her torn between shame and a twisted sense of power. Her mother’s complicity—choosing to believe her husband’s lies—cut even deeper. Field only confronted the truth after her mother’s death, writing the memoir to “forgive her, or at least understand her.”
Her romantic life was no less fraught. Her marriage to Burt Reynolds, though passionate, was marked by manipulation. He discouraged her from attending award shows, downplayed her success, and left her feeling “less than.” Decades later, Reynolds called their breakup his “biggest regret”—but Field never looked back.
Professionally, she shattered expectations. After Gidget and The Flying Nun, she fought for gritty roles, winning Oscars for Norma Rae and Places in the Heart. Steven Spielberg, who directed her in Lincoln, praised her “feisty persistence.” Now in her 70s, she’s still acting, her resilience as much her legacy as her awards.