Daniel Figueroa IV
Sep 12, 2023
The conversation between the two actors and former spouses was taped during a May live show at the Sacred Heart University Community Theater and is available now.
Susan Sarandon was a bit late to the show. But given it’d been more than four decades since she and ex-husband Chris Sarandon had been together, the audience at the Sacred Heart University Community Theater in Fairfield didn’t seem to mind much.
“Well, first of all, the ordeal getting here,” Chris Sarandon said after the whoops and cheers of the crowd died down — and after the two shared a hug.
She joked that it “was like a pilgrimage to get here.”
But it didn’t take long for Susan Sarandon to tell the audience exactly why she was there.
“When I met Chris, I thought — and correctly so — that he knew everything. Because he took me to black and white movies and introduced me to literature and basically saved my life with his kindness,” she said. “As you can imagine I wasn’t too stable coming (from a large working-class family in New Jersey). He was incredibly patient…So really, I credit you with my foundation and my survival. One of the reasons I’m here is to publicly say that.”
The near 60-minute conversation, taped the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend in May, debuted today on the second season premiere of Chris Sarandon’s “Cooking by Heart” podcast. During the first season, Chris Sarandon spoke to actors like Carey Elwes and Mario Cantone and famed chefs like Jacques Pepin about the meals that made them who they are. According to podcast tracking site Listen Notes, “Cooking by Heart” ranks in the top five percent of podcasts worldwide.
In the episode, the former spouses shared stories of their early romance while attending college students at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where they married before living for a short time in Milford while Chris Sarandon worked at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theater.
Susan Sarandon said her New Jersey upbringing in a big Catholic family meant food was more of a utility than a joy. Then she met Chris Sarandon and his restaurant-owning Greek family. His mother’s avgolemono soup, a silky Greek soup made with eggs, chicken and lots of lemon, nearly saved her life, she told the crowd.
During the conversation, Susan Sarandon talked about some of her famous relationships, like her 20-year romance with actor Tim Robbins, and her famous children, like Connecticut’s Eva Amurri, also an actor and a lifestyle blogger. The two also talked old friends and activism in a hilarious and heart-warming conversation that felt like what it was — listening in on a conversation between two people who share deep — if now platonic — love. Chris Sarandon has been married to actor-writer-director Joanna Gleason for about 30 years. Susan Sarandon said she never wished to get married again, but is quite fond of her NYC apartment and her three cats.
“My apartment is so small I didn’t have a door on my bedroom. But now I got a door on my bedroom so I can kind of manage the team,” she said. “So, I'm back on cats. One, that is a cat person. A cat lady is definitely — when you’re over two, you become a cat lady.”
“Cooking by Heart,” which is available on all major podcast platforms and YouTube, premiers Tuesdays. The second season promises another slate of novelists, actors, chefs and more including Jane Green, Manny Azenberg and Clint Howard. The Susan Sarandon episode is available now.