Loni Anderson Stood By Burt Reynolds as He Was Bedridden for 2 Years, Taking Up to 50 Pain Pills a Day
Burt Reynolds admitted he once took up to 50 pills a day to treat pain from an on-set injury
He praised his then-partner Loni Anderson for sticking by his side at his lowest point
The couple later waged a media war during their bitter divorce, accusing each other of cheating and moreBy the end of their five-year marriage in 1994, there was certainly no love lost between actor Burt Reynolds, who died on Sept. 6, 2018, at age 82, and Loni Anderson, who died on Aug. 3, 2025, at age 79.
Their bitter split actively played out in the media and tabloids, with both parties regularly dishing on the other to the National Enquirer, accusing one another of cheating, and in Reynolds's case, accusing Anderson of being an unfit mother to their adopted son Quinton, 36.
But before the ugliness, there was a lot of love and support, with Reynolds publicly praising Anderson for sticking to his side as he battled morphine and sleeping pill addiction in the early '80s after he shattered his jaw on the set of the Clint Eastwood film City Heat.
During the 1984 filming, Reynolds was accidentally clobbered with a wrought-iron chair during a fight scene. The blow fractured his temporomandibular joint, damaged his inner ear, and resulted in a two-year bout with almost constant pain and nausea.
His weight dropped from 200 to 138 lbs, and the press was rife with erroneous reports that he had AIDS. To dull the pain, he took morphine and at one point was admittedly downing an astonishing 50 tablets a day of the controversial antidepressant and sleeping pill Halcion.
At the time, Reynolds told TV Guide that the pain was immeasurable: "It's worse than a migraine," he said. "It is like having an army of people inside your head trying to get out through ears, eyes, your nose. It never stops."
He said that he took five to six pills at a time and as many as 50 a day to dull the pain.
For the two years after the injury, he was virtually bedridden in his darkened room. He endured another difficult year of medically supervised detox afterward.
''This wonderful lady never left my side,'' he later said of Loni, whom he'd been dating since 1981. ''How can you not be in love with somebody like that?''
The couple went on to marry in 1988, welcoming Quinton in 1988. Throughout most of his life, Reynolds would have battles with pain pills, owing to other injuries from his college football career, and a brief stint as a stuntman. In 2009, he went through back surgery and again became addicted to pain pills. He went to rehab that same year.
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Despite their ugly split in the early '90s, after Reynolds' death in 2018, Anderson told FOX News that she had made peace with her ex-husband.
"Quinton and I are extremely touched by the tremendous outpouring of love and support from friends and family throughout the world," she told the outlet. "Burt was a wonderful director and actor. He was a big part of my life for twelve years and Quinton's father for thirty years. We will miss him and his great laugh."
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