Susan Sarandon Talks Split With Tim Robbins

After many months of singledom — which followed more than 20 years as one-half of Hollywood’s most enduring May-December lovers — Susan Sarandon is breaking her silence about her split from actor Tim Robbins.

The peace-lovin’ pair first met while shooting the Kevin Costner baseball classic Bull Durham in the mid-80s.

In a candid chat with London’s Daily Telegraph, Sarandon says she never planned to marry Robbins, but did not expect to part ways with the father of two of her three children after a 23-year union either. The 63-year-old actress split from the actor – with who she has sons Jack, 21, and Miles, 18 – last December and admits she is amazed by how much their separation shocked people. In the weeks after the split attracted headlines, Susan say fans would stop her on the street to say they’d wept about her breakup.

“Well, I was sadder! I didn’t think it would ever happen, either,” Sarandon told The Telegraph. “People were coming up to me in the street and saying, ‘I cried and I cried when I heard.’ Well, I was sadder. I didn’t think it would ever happen either.”

At 20, the self-assessed “hippie chick” married college sweetheart Chris Sarandon in 1967. The couple divorced 12 years later, prompting Susan’s vow to never to tie the knot again. The actress believed her relationships had a stronger chance of standing the test of time without an official union — a testament she’s no longer sure she believes.

“I’ve always liked the idea of choosing to be with somebody. I thought that if you didn’t get married you wouldn’t take each other for granted as easily. I don’t know if after twentysomething years that was still true.”

Susan — who downplays rumors romantically-linking her to friend Jonathan Bricklin — has relegated herself to the fact that her union with Robbins simply ran its course.

“You bring people into your life at certain times. Maybe you have a relationship to have children and you realize that it’s fulfilled after that point.”