Sally Field Admits She Once Tricked Johnny Carson Into Ending Their Relationship

Former television personality Johnny Carson and Hollywood veteran Sally Field have been household names in Hollywood for decades.

Carson is renowned for his comedy and television hosting career while Field ruled the acting scenes, particularly comedy flicks. Since they both shared a similar love for comedy, their paths were sure to cross at some point.

It was not surprising when news broke out that the pair had been in a relationship. Although they were tagged as love birds by a close associate, something was amiss in the details.

Recently, Field disclosed that the alleged affair was not exactly as the public perceived it to be. To her, it was more of a one-sided interest from Carson. In a bid to end his fawning adoration, the actress had to tell an exaggerated lie.

Read on to get the details of how their connection fizzled out.

Letting go in a relationship might be difficult. More so, finding the right words to end a romance can be nerve-wracking.

"The Forrest Gump" star faced a similar scenario when she got tired of whatever thing she had going with Carson. She quickly decided on telling an outlandish lie instead of having a heart-to-heart talk.

Although she did not disclose the specifics of the affair with Carson, Field divulged the breakup tidbit when she appeared on Watch What Happens Live hosted by Andy Cohen.

"I told him -- Johnny, I think it was -- I told him I was having a breakdown and was getting sent away," she said. "I could not figure out how to say I'm really am just not into this. I just said, 'I'm so sorry. I have to go away. They're putting me in a home.'"

In her defense, the actress claimed she did not know how to say no to people and when it came down to difficult times, she brings out the "I have lost my mind" trick.

While playing the "Plead the Fifth" segment on WWHL, Cohen asked her how she would describe her old affair with Carson? Instead of using the one-time no response option that came along with playing the game, she bravely admitted to dating the TV personality and gave an odd tag for the relationship.

In her words, she called it "The octopus and the reluctant little guppy." Cohen then quizzed the actress if the pair went on multiple dates? In response, she sidestepped the actual question and rather riposted with an answer that gave Carson a bit of respect.

"I mean, he's wonderful, he's Johnny Carson, but it was reluctant,' the actress recalled." News of their supposed relationship first came out after Carson's lawyer revealed in a tell-all book in 2013 that the pair dated for a while.

Field's entanglement with Carson happened during a time when they were both single. Carson had just separated from his third wife Joanna Holland, while Field was reeling from the breakup of her five-year relationship with actor Burt Reynolds.

When the rumors hit the news, Field was in a new relationship with her soon-to-be husband, producer Alan Greisman. The pair got married and separated nine years later.

However, just Like Carson, who got entrapped in Field's feminine wiles, her old flame, Reynolds has not gotten over his romance with her. To date, he still believes she is the love of his life.

"(She was) the one who got away," he said as per Contact Music. "I miss her terribly." "Even now, it's hard on me," he continued. "You find the perfect person, and then you do everything you can to screw it up," Reynolds said in an interview.

Still, on the WWHL show, Cohen also quizzed the actress about her best and worst kisses on set. The "Norma Rae" star responded that her "Back Roads" colleague Tommy Lee Jones was the lowest on her list.

She followed up the reply with an explanation that he was going through a bad phase in his life at that time. Surprisingly, Jones came back years later to apologize to her for that moment which might have made the audience wonder if the kiss was that terrible.

For her best kiss ever, Field wasted no time in choosing late veteran James Garner. "Well best without a doubt was James Garner," she said. "I mean, hands down. He gets it. Woof - That's it!"

In addition, she described how she would get lost in the moment of the smooch and reclined in her chair to demonstrate her point.