Celebrity
John Malkovich Makes Rare Comments About ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ Affair With Michelle Pfeiffer
Prolific actor John Malkovich opened up like never before about his affair with Michelle Pfeiffer. Their relationship ignited on the set of the 1988 period drama Dangerous Liaisons.
The Being John Malkovich star admitted that his love affair with Pfeiffer is “not something I ever really talk about.” More than 30 years later, the Oscar winner shared his thoughts about his relationship with Pfeiffer and what he learned from it.
“In our work, the work I do normally, you make emotional bonds with people very quickly. That’s kind of part of the work. Very rarely those bonds extend beyond the work,” Malkovich said on the Fashion Neurosis podcast, which was published on September 3.
Speaking specifically about Pfeiffer, Malkovich noted, “For me, she was someone I valued greatly as a colleague, was great fun and moving, and with me, incredibly fair. And I probably wasn’t. I certainly wasn’t. So that’s what happens.”
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He continued, ‘I think I’ve learned over the course of my life that a great colleague is actually kind of rarer than anything. And when that relationship becomes more than collegial or more than a friendship, even a profound friendship, then at least in my experience, and it might be my particular psychology or stupidity or ineptness or all of the above, then you lose a great colleague.”
The actor brought up his professional partnership with Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė and how they’ve “remained great friends and colleagues” after 33 years because “there is a line never crossed, a border never crossed. That’s kind of what I’ve learned, that when a thing like that happens, it might not be retrievable.”
Malkovich and his wife at the time, actress Glenne Headly, divorced following the affair. Pfeiffer was also married to actor Peter Horton, and they divorced in 1988. However, Pfeiffer and Horton had an amicable split. “We didn’t have an angry breakup—he even helped me pack my car. [laughs] It wasn’t bitter, and we talked every day on the phone,” she told Interview.
