Critically acclaimed actress Sally Field wrote a personal memoir titled In Pieces, which lets her fans know even the dark aspects of her life
The 71-year old star began her career when she was just in her teens and was cast as part of Gidget, a 1960s sitcom. Field portrayed a surfer who lived with her widowed father. However, her character's happy disposition in life on the hit show was opposite her life off camera.
'In Pieces': An Open Book
The actress revealed in her new book that she was sexually abused by her stepfather, Jock Mahoney, who was also an actor. Her mother married the entertainer in 1952. Field said that she also suffered emotional abuse.
"It would have been so much easier if I'd only felt one thing, if Jocko had been nothing but cruel and frightening. But he wasn't," said the actress.
She added that the actor often called Field to come into his bedroom saying that she felt "both a child, helpless, and not a child."
It is still unclear when Mahoney's abuse began. However, it ended when her mother and the actor divorced in 1968 when she was 14. Additionally, she only told her mother about the abuse when she won the Oscar for Lincoln, which was directed by Steven Spielberg in 2012.
According to her, the experiences with her stepfather made her divide herself into pieces to get through it. She managed to block off the pain and move on with her life.
Other Experiences
The actress also wrote in her memoir about Jimmy Webb, a songwriter. The actress said that she woke up with Webb on top of her after they had smoked a joint in 1968. She added that she thought the man was stoned and out of his mind, saying that she did not think he was acting with malicious purpose.
"Sally and I were young, successful stars in Hollywood. We dated and did what 22-year-olds did in the late 60s-we hung out, we smoked pot, we had sex," said Webb in a statement.
Webb also stated that even publishers did not let him read the part of the book where Field wrote about him and s,o he just remembered his memories when he dated the actress in the 1960s.
The actor also added that he had amazing memories with the actress and he has much respect for the actress. This respect made him skip writing about the Oscar-winning actress in his book because he did not want to affect her goody two shoes Gidget image with his tales about sex and drugs.
Also, Field added that she was glad that Burt Reynolds, whom she dated and worked with, would not be able to read her new book. Reynolds, 82, died last week.
