Sally Field's Triumph Over Tragedy: How's She Still Recovering From Hollywood's Most Bitter Split

Sally Field has been America's sweetheart since she surfed into our living rooms with TV's Gidget in 1965, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

But behind her spunky smile, the Oscar winner has dealt with more than her share of despair as a child of divorce, a struggling single mom and a twice-married woman whose romantic dreams were dashed by her one true love, Burt Reynolds.

"Sally is as warm and sweet as she appears, and there isn't a person in Hollywood who has a bad word to say about her," a friend of the 78-year-old said. "Sadly, her personal life hasn't struck gold like her acting career did."

Los Angeles-born Field had her world torn apart at age 4 when her parents split up. Though her mom, Margaret, remarried stuntman Jock Mahoney, the family existed hand to mouth.

"One day, someone came and took all our stuff away," Field recalled.

She grew up in fear of her abusive stepfather, whom she calls "both cruel and loving."

Once, in a fit of temper, Mahoney threw Sally across the yard.

"There was always the threat of violence in the air," she revealed. "I never felt safe."

Her "confusing" feelings for her stepfather shaped the way she later related to men.

"He was big and handsome – I was both terrified and madly in love with him," she said. "That stayed with me as I grew up: I was attracted only to men I simultaneously feared and loved."

In 1968, she wed Steven Craig, and the couple had two sons, Peter and Eli.

But when the marriage went bust after seven years, and Field found herself without a man or a TV show, she did the movie Stay Hungry, which required a nude scene.

"I couldn't hide how humiliating it was for me; I burst into tears," she said.

Fortunately, she soon landed her breakout role in the mini-series Sybil, playing a woman with multiple personalities.

After that, Reynolds came calling to sign her up for Smokey and the Bandit.

"People saw 'Sybil' and said, 'Boy, she can act – but man, is she ugly.'" Field shared. "So I thought if I did a movie with Burt and he thought I was cute, then somebody else might think I was cute and I could continue acting. I was single with two kids – I had to earn a living."

Reynolds and Field's smoky chemistry sizzled off camera, but their roller-coaster love was fraught with fights.

And as her career continued to skyrocket, his began to plummet, causing more friction.

When Field got an Academy Award nomination for 1979's Norma Rae, she attended the ceremony solo and accepted her Best Actress statuette without Burt there to cheer her on.

"People said, 'Why wasn't he at the Oscars?' I didn't want him to go," she insisted, explaining the two of them were spatting when she "just threw the dishes, packed my bag, and left. I didn't ask him to come to the Oscars with me."

While Field said, "relationships go through rough times [and] if they're important to you, you make those rough times make it better," her romance with Reynolds failed to improve much.

He refused to settle down, breaking her heart.

"Burt was the most important thing that ever happened in my life," she said.

"I wanted to be everything he ever wanted." Too bad Reynolds thought he wanted more.

As RadarOnline.com readers know, Reynolds regretted their 1982 split. Two years later, Field tied the knot with Alan Greisman, and three years later had their son, Sam. But by 1994, that marriage ended, and Field, on her own yet again, learned to love herself.