Christopher McDonald Recalls Heartbreak After Geena Davis Ended Engagement

Actor Christopher McDonald revealed during a SAG-AFTRA Foundation career retrospective that he was left devastated after his former fiancée, Oscar winner Geena Davis, ended their engagement in the mid-1980s to pursue a relationship with actor Jeff Goldblum.

McDonald, 71, met Davis in the early 1980s following her first marriage. The couple eventually became engaged, but their relationship came to an abrupt end after roughly five weeks when Davis traveled to Europe to work on a film set with Goldblum.

"Geena Davis and I were engaged to be married for about five weeks, and she fell in love with Jeff Goldblum doing her first movie over there in Europe," said McDonald.

The two stars fell in love while filming the 1985 movie Transylvania 6-5000. Despite the sudden split, McDonald noted that he harbored no hard feelings toward Goldblum, who is now 73.

"And I don’t blame him. She’s stunningly beautiful and everything like that, but you know, what happens on sets — things sometimes happen," said McDonald.

At the time of the breakup, McDonald was performing in a production of Hamlet, playing the role of Laertes. He was scheduled to join Davis overseas just three weeks later when he received word of the situation from fellow actor Ed Begley Jr.

"But I was broken," said McDonald.

Begley co-starred alongside Davis and Goldblum in Transylvania 6-5000 and informed McDonald about the budding romance unfolding on set.

"I was doing Hamlet at the time, playing Laertes, and I had another three weeks to finish and then I was going to go over and join her," said McDonald.

The news came as a severe emotional blow to the actor during his theater run.

"So I got the bad news from Ed Begley. He did me that solid," said McDonald.

He expressed how deeply the sudden end of their planned marriage impacted him at the time.

"I mean I was really, really devastated," said McDonald.

Davis and Goldblum married in November 1987 and went on to co-star in 1986's The Fly and 1988's Earth Girls Are Easy before divorcing in 1990. Five years after their split, McDonald and Davis reconnected professionally on director Ridley Scott's 1991 drama Thelma & Louise, where McDonald was cast as her controlling onscreen husband Darryl Dickinson.

"It’s literally five years later and [Davis] said to [Director Ridley Scott], ‘Who’d you get to play my husband?’ and he said, ‘Oh, you’ll love him, he’s tall, he’s funny, uh .... what’s his name? Chris McDonald,” and then she said, ‘I used to go with him,’ and he said, ‘Even better, perfect!’ ” said McDonald.

In a 1992 interview with the Los Angeles Times, McDonald reflected on working with Davis on the iconic film, describing the experience as great and really cathartic. McDonald later married actress Lupe Gidley in 1992, with whom he shares four children.