Sally Field spoke for years about being “terrified” of her physically abusive stepfather — before the beloved Oscar-winner finally revealed that she was sexually molested by former “Tarzan” star Jock Mahoney! The actor and stuntman was already a TV cowboy star when he married Sally’s mother, actress Margaret Field, in 1952. He went on to star as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle man in two feature films in the early ’60s. Sally first began to speak out about her abusive upbringing with Mahoney after his death in 1989, and revealed her resentment over how he’d affected Sally’s life both personally and professionally. But her new memoir, “In Pieces,” finally reveals that Sally was regularly molested by Mahoney until the age of 14, as she writes: “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. He could be magical, the Pied Piper with our family as his entranced followers.”
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Sally had earlier revealed that
she blamed Mahoney for her miserable love life, saying: “He was really big and handsome. I was both terrified of him and madly in love with him. Unfortunately, that stayed with me as I grew up. I was attracted only to men I simultaneously feared and loved. My stepfather was both cruel and loving…I felt I was in danger all the time.”
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The Oscar-winner had also once told an interviewer that Mahoney “wasn't the supporting father every woman would want to have. Very inconsistent and unreasonable. I still really don't know how to be around men very well.” In her new book, Sally adds that she felt her relationship with
Burt Reynolds was tied to her upbringing, saying: “I was somehow exorcising something that needed to be exorcised. I was trying to make it work this time.”
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In a bizarre twist, Mahoney seemed to agree, once saying that
Sally and Burt “seem to be very happy together. He is a very strong individual, while Sally is gentle and shy and needs to be looked after. But if I got a telephone call from Sally saying they were not going to get married, or that she and Burt were no longer going together, I wouldn't be surprised at all.”
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Sally had also blamed Mahoney for pressuring her to take the lead in the sitcom “The Flying Nun,” which she felt derailed her career for several years. “She saw people making fun of her character and said she felt stupid doing it, which fueled her feelings of insecurity and depression,” revealed the insider. Sally managed to salvage her career and go on to screen stardom — but, sadly, she's also taking comfort in
her co-star Burt Reynolds' recent death.5 of 5
Photo credit: Getty Images
“This would hurt him,” said Sally, while comparing Burt to her abusive dad. “I felt glad that he wasn’t going to read it. He wasn’t going to be asked about it, and he wasn’t going to have to defend himself or lash out — which he probably would have. I did not want to hurt him any further.”
Sally had earlier revealed that
she blamed Mahoney for her miserable love life, saying: “He was really big and handsome. I was both terrified of him and madly in love with him. Unfortunately, that stayed with me as I grew up. I was attracted only to men I simultaneously feared and loved. My stepfather was both cruel and loving…I felt I was in danger all the time.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
The Oscar-winner had also once told an interviewer that Mahoney “wasn't the supporting father every woman would want to have. Very inconsistent and unreasonable. I still really don't know how to be around men very well.” In her new book, Sally adds that she felt her relationship with
Burt Reynolds was tied to her upbringing, saying: “I was somehow exorcising something that needed to be exorcised. I was trying to make it work this time.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
In a bizarre twist, Mahoney seemed to agree, once saying that
Sally and Burt “seem to be very happy together. He is a very strong individual, while Sally is gentle and shy and needs to be looked after. But if I got a telephone call from Sally saying they were not going to get married, or that she and Burt were no longer going together, I wouldn't be surprised at all.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
Sally had also blamed Mahoney for pressuring her to take the lead in the sitcom “The Flying Nun,” which she felt derailed her career for several years. “She saw people making fun of her character and said she felt stupid doing it, which fueled her feelings of insecurity and depression,” revealed the insider. Sally managed to salvage her career and go on to screen stardom — but, sadly, she's also taking comfort in
her co-star Burt Reynolds' recent death.Photo credit: Getty Images
“This would hurt him,” said Sally, while comparing Burt to her abusive dad. “I felt glad that he wasn’t going to read it. He wasn’t going to be asked about it, and he wasn’t going to have to defend himself or lash out — which he probably would have. I did not want to hurt him any further.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
