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As far as Hollywood splits go, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins' was one of the most surprising. Sarandon, 63, recently chatted with the UK's Telegraph about what it was like parting ways with her longtime love, why they never married, and why she considers herself a "serial monogamist."
The Oscar-winning actress (who currently stars in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), described the fan reaction when she and Robbins parted ways in late 2009 after 23 years and two children together.
"People were coming up to me in the street and saying, 'I cried and cried when I heard.' Well, I was sadder! I didn't think it would ever happen, either," Sarandon said. "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."
But, during all that time together, why did the couple never make it official? "I've always liked the idea of choosing to be with somebody," she said. "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 twenty-something years that was still true."
Still, Sarandon, who was only married once to Chris Sarandon (who she wed when she was 20 years old), considers herself something of a conservative hippie. "He was the first person I ever had sex with and my best friend," she said. "I married so young but took it very seriously; I never had that kind of free-love 1960s. I was slow to lose my virginity. In fact, throughout my life I've been with so few people; I'm one of those serial monogamists. I was never that wild, although I was a bit of a hippie chick. I think I probably still am a hippie chick."
Sarandon has recently been romantically linked to her younger business partner, 31-year-old Jonathan Bricklin (who was present during the interview). "You have to have a sense of humor," she said about the rumors of their romance. "There are lots of people in my life at the moment."
Through her relationship ups and downs and her years of experience, Sarandon has learned a few life lessons. "What I've realized in my old age is that your relationship with people or with your job has to be a growing organism," she said. "It's not something where you reach a certain point and then you start preserving it. You have to nurture it, you have to stay curious and hungry and foolish. Once you stop doing that you get satisfied and you get stuck."
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