Actor Christopher McDonald opened up about his past relationship and engagement to Geena Davis during a career retrospective hosted by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. McDonald, 71, shared that he and Davis had been engaged to be married for approximately five weeks in the mid-1980s before their relationship came to an abrupt end. According to the Happy Gilmore star, the split occurred after Davis traveled to Europe to work on her first movie and fell in love with her co-star, Jeff Goldblum.
Reflecting on a Mid-1980s Engagement and Heartbreak
At the time of the breakup, McDonald was performing in a production of Hamlet
playing Laertes. He recounted having three weeks left in his run before he planned to travel overseas to join Davis. Instead, he received the unexpected news from actor Ed Begley Jr., who co-starred in the film alongside Davis and Goldblum. So I got the bad news from Ed Begley. He did me that solid,
McDonald recalled, adding that he was really, really devastated
and broken
over the failed engagement.
The Movie Set Romance and Subsequent Marriages
The film that brought Davis and Goldblum together was the 1985 comedy Transylvania 6-5000. Despite the personal heartbreak, McDonald expressed no bitterness toward Goldblum. I don’t blame him,
McDonald said. She’s stunningly beautiful and everything like that, but you know, what happens on sets — things sometimes happen.
Following their meeting on the set of Transylvania 6-5000, Davis and Goldblum went on to co-star in other projects including The Fly
and Earth Girls Are Easy
. The couple married in November 1987, though they later split in 1990, with their divorce finalized in 1991.
On-Screen Reunion in Thelma & Louise
Years after their engagement ended, McDonald and Davis reunited professionally on the silver screen for the 1991 film Thelma & Louise
. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie featured Davis as Thelma, while McDonald was cast as her on-screen husband, Darryl Dickinson.
McDonald humorously recounted how director Ridley Scott cast him without initially realizing his past history with the lead actress. When Davis asked Scott who had been cast as her husband, the director described him as tall and funny, prompting Davis to inform him, I used to go with him,
to which Scott reportedly replied, Even better, perfect!
McDonald later described the experience of working with his former fiancée as really cathartic
during a 1992 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Life After the Split
In the years following their respective relationships, both actors married and started families:
- Christopher McDonald: Married actress Lupe Gidley in 1992, and the couple shares four children together.
- Geena Davis: Has been married four times. Following her marriage to Jeff Goldblum, she married director Renny Harlin from 1993 to 1998, and later married Dr. Reza Jarrahy in 2001, with whom she shares three children before their divorce was finalized in 2021.
- Jeff Goldblum: Married Emilie Livingston in 2014, and they have two sons together.
