For years, Hollywood remembered Sally Field and Burt Reynolds as one of the great celebrity couples of the 1970s.

They had chemistry on screen.

They had chemistry away from it.

And when Burt Reynolds later called Sally the “love of my life,” it seemed to confirm the romantic story many fans had remembered for decades.

But Sally remembered those years differently.

The two became close after working together on 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit.

Burt was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Sally was fighting to escape the lightweight image left by television roles such as Gidget and The Flying Nun.

Their connection was immediate.

They eventually appeared together in four movies, and their romance continued for several years.

From the outside, they looked like Hollywood royalty.

But decades later, Sally finally described what the relationship had felt like from inside it.

In her 2018 memoir, In Pieces, Sally portrayed Burt as charismatic and important to her life — but also controlling.

She later described their relationship as confusing, complicated and hurtful, while acknowledging that love and caring existed between them too.

That distinction mattered.

Because Sally wasn’t saying there had never been love.

She was saying that love wasn’t the entire story.

One memory illustrates the complicated dynamic particularly well.

In 1977, Sally was nominated for an Emmy for her acclaimed performance in Sybil.

She ultimately didn’t attend the ceremony.

Instead, she watched alone from a rented condo as her name was announced as the winner.

Years later, Sally reflected on how difficult it had been for her at the time to speak up for herself and say that attending the ceremony mattered.

Then came another turning point.

Norma Rae.

The role would transform Sally’s career and eventually earn her the Academy Award for Best Actress.

But Sally has said Burt wasn’t enthusiastic about the project. In more recent reflections, she recalled him throwing the script aside and questioning why she would want to make it.

For Sally, however, playing Norma Rae represented something much bigger.

She was beginning to discover her own strength.

And eventually, she walked away from the relationship.

Years later, Burt looked back with regret.

Sally looked back with something more complicated.

She never denied that he mattered enormously during an important period of her life.

But when she finally told the story in her own words, the glamorous Hollywood romance became something much more human.

There had been attraction.

There had been affection.

But there had also been pain, control and a woman slowly learning how to stand up for herself.

Maybe that’s why Sally Field’s version still resonates.

Sometimes two people can live through the same love story — and remember it very differently.