Linda Hamilton Says She and Ex-Husband James Cameron Were 'Terribly Mismatched'
While Linda Hamilton returns to the role that skyrocketed her to fame, she’s also opening up about her former marriage to the man who directed her, James Cameron.
The actress, 62, reprises her role of Sarah Connor in the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate with Cameron, 65, producing it. There are no hard feelings between the two exes, who were married 1997 to 1999 and who share a 26-year-old daughter, Josephine.
“That relationship was a mystery to all of us — even Jim and myself — because we are terribly mismatched,” Hamilton told The New York Times in an interview. “I used to say we fit together like a puzzle: Everywhere he’s convex, I’m concave.”
The two moved in together after they filmed Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
“I think what happened there is that he really fell in love with Sarah Connor,” Hamilton said. “And I did, too.”
Cameron didn’t object, telling the Times, “I fell in love with her initially because I thought she was a little closer to Sarah than she actually is, but that doesn’t mean that much once you get to know somebody.”
“I think we were just in this high-velocity spiral around each other for a long time,” he added. “We were fascinated by each other.”
Their breakup in 1999 left Hamilton “completely devastated for years.”
“But I’m so glad to be free of that,” she said. “I would never, ever put that much energy again into something that is not working.”
The actress also divulged she’d remained “celibate for at least 15 years.”
“One loses track, because it just doesn’t matter — or at least it doesn’t matter to me,” she said. “I have a very romantic relationship with my world every day and the people who are in it.”
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Hamilton explained she decided to take a step back from acting after her recurring role in Chuck ended in 2012.
“I woke up one day and I was like, ‘Well, here I am in my beautiful mansion and my kids aren’t here, my agents aren’t calling, and this is not real,” she said. “I love my along time like no one you’ve ever met.”
Now, she’s back as the character that launched her into stardom. Terminator: Dark Fate is produced by Cameron and directed by Time Miller.
The film includes Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 robot that was first sent to kill her (and therefore her unborn son, John Connor) in the original 1984 film.
In July, Schwarzenegger and Hamilton reunited to promote the upcoming sequel at Comic-Con in San Diego, California.
“I think that you will all be surprised with this movie because it has come out unbelievable. I was blown away by it when I first saw it,” said Schwarzenegger.
Terminator: Dark Fate is in theaters Nov. 1.
