They just don’t make Hollywood gossip like they used to. Back in 1991, Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland were engaged to be married. However, three days before the wedding, Roberts ran off to Ireland with Sutherland’s Lost Boys co-star and best friend, Jason Patric. “When I get hold of Jason I am going to tear him limb from limb,” Sutherland allegedly said at the time. “That snake pretended to be my best friend and all the time he was really after my girl.” It was a huge celebrity scandal at the time, and Roberts and Patric dated for about a year after all of the drama.
This obviously caused a rift between Sutherland and Patric for years, but they’ve clearly put it all behind them. The duo sat down to discuss The Lost Boys on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, and the former Smallville star brought up the scandal at the end of the wide-ranging discussion. Patric admitted that they didn’t see each other for about 20 years before rekindling the friendship. “The thing is, she’s [Julia Roberts] not here in this room,” Patric explained. “So I feel strange talking about what she told me or what she told Kiefer because she can speak for herself. But the large stuff [reported by] the press, being invited to the wedding and taking off with the bride — that’s all bull—-. Kiefer’s specific relationship, and what they were at the time, that’s theirs.”
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Rosenbaum also touched on the infamous Rolling Stone interview that Sutherland gave in 2006 when he discussed the relationship implosion. “I was making a joke about a country song…’I lost my pick up and my dog and my best friend, and I miss my best friend,’” Sutherland said. “That was a difficult time for me, and I think it was an uncomfortable time for both of them. The truth where I’m coming from: you fall in love, you fall in love. There’s nothing you can do about that. [Julia’s] an extraordinary person, and he is too. Timing is what it is, and everyone moves on from that.”
Sutherland and Patric publicly reconciled in 2011 when they starred opposite each other in a Broadway revival of That Championship Season, the Tony-winning 1973 play penned by Patric’s father, writer and actor Jason Miller. “When I saw him again, there were a few words and more of a laugh and a toast,” Patric said. “I’ve said before that [he and Julia] have both been subsequently married since — a couple of times — and I think they’re both very happy in their lives. What lasted after all that was me and Kiefer as 35-year-buddies.”
Sutherland offered a summarizing analogy by invoking another famous love triangle: rock stars George Harrison and Eric Clapton with model and photographer Pattie Boyd. “George Harrison and Eric Clapton were best friends ’til the bitter end,” the 24 star quipped. “I figure if they can deal with what they dealt with, we certainly can… I never got the truck back.”
