Minnie Driver is reflecting on her past relationships and revealing one ex she would have regretted marrying.
The 54-year-old actor recently spoke to The Sunday Times about the struggles she has faced in Hollywood over the last few decades. During the interview, Driver also opened up about her family and how her childhood impacted her romantic relationships.
Driver told the outlet that when she was 12, she found out her father was married to another woman and had a second family with her. She learned the truth while arguing with her mother, who had been with her father for 16 years but never tied the knot.
“As opposed to explaining to her kid what was going on, she told me in a fight, in a moment of rage, which was not good, but I understand it,” she said. “Maybe that’s about getting older — all the faulted stuff about your parents you just go, ‘Oh yes, I know why they did that, because I did something similar last week.’”
That revelation led Driver to examine how her parents’ relationship influenced the type of men she dated.
“If I look at my history, what it did was make me want to be married so much and then choose men who were so not the right men to be married to,” she said. “So I would carry on longing to be married and to have that conservative version (of a relationship), find men who had no interest in that, and then if one did, run a mile.”
Driver specifically mentioned her relationship with actor Josh Brolin as an example of repeating that cycle.
“The one time I was engaged it would have been, I think, the biggest mistake of my life,” she shared.
According to BBC News, Driver and Brolin started dating after meeting on the set of their movie “Slow Burn.” They got engaged in April 2001 but split in October 2001 before setting a wedding date, the outlet reported at the time.
Brolin had been previously married to Alice Adair from 1988 to 1994 before his relationship with Driver. He later said “I do” to Diane Lane in 2004, but the couple split in 2013. The “No Country for Old Men” star has been married to Kathryn Boyd since 2016.
Driver has been dating filmmaker Addison O’Dea for almost six years. In honor of their five-year anniversary last year, she penned a sweet tribute to him.
“It’s our anniversary today,” she wrote on Instagram in November 2023. “Five years filled with laughter, grief, creativity and becoming our little tribe of 4 ( counting Bob).”
She uploaded a picture from their “first formal date” as well as a second photo that she said represented their life together. “Slide 2 is how we really are: happy, eating, by the sea. Love you @addisonodea,” she wrote.
During her chat with The Sunday Times, “The Beekeeper” star gushed about her connection with O’Dea after reflecting on her past with Brolin.
“Now I’m with someone who doesn’t want to get married but who is the most devoted, loving, extraordinary… Everything I could have wanted in my childhood idea of a husband, he actually is,” she praised.
Driver has commented on her previous relationships with Hollywood stars before. She started dating “Good Will Hunting” co-star Matt Damon when they worked on the film together. Last year, she reacted to a clip on Instagram of Damon and Ben Affleck winning an Academy Award for the flick in 1998.
When one Instagram user wrote, “Minnie looks so sad,” the actor responded and explained why she wasn’t in the best mood.
“Matt had ended our relationship a few weeks before this, and was at the Oscars with his new gf,” she wrote. Driver said she was “devastated at the time.”
“Wish I could have celebrated more as it was an amazing moment for all of us, and for this wonderful film!” she added.
She also reflected on the “Good Will Hunting” chapter of her life during an appearance on the 3rd Hour of TODAY June 12.
After a clip from the movie played on a monitor, Driver said about herself, “Oh bless her sweet heart. I love her so much. I wish she knew all the stuff I know now.”
Al Roker asked if Driver had any advice she would tell her younger self.
“Don’t date actors,” she replied before Al, Dylan Dreyer and Jill Martin started laughing.
Driver continued, “But I had the best time doing it. But I would tell her, ‘Honey, find a nice plumber. Find an electrician. Find someone who just wants to stay home and support you.’”
