HEARTBREAK Revisited: Christopher McDonald Says Geena Davis Left Him for Jeff Goldblum and He Was “Broken”

Heartbreak from 1985 has resurfaced in Christopher McDonald’s latest reflection on his early Hollywood years. The Happy Gilmore star revealed during a SAG-AFTRA Foundation career retrospective that he was engaged to Geena Davis for about five weeks before she fell in love with Jeff Goldblum while filming Transylvania 6-5000 in Europe. McDonald recalled that he was “broken” by the unexpected end of their relationship and described himself as “really, really devastated.”

The story might have ended there, but Hollywood eventually produced an almost absurdly ironic sequel. Several years after the breakup, McDonald was cast as Davis’ husband in the 1991 film Thelma & Louise. Rather than refusing to revisit their past, the two actors met for lunch, reconciled and ultimately worked together on the movie. McDonald has described the experience as cathartic.

HEARTBREAK Began With a Five-Week Engagement

McDonald explained that he and Davis were engaged for only around five weeks when she traveled to Europe to film Transylvania 6-5000. The movie marked an important early stage in Davis’ film career and paired her with Goldblum, who would become her future husband. McDonald, meanwhile, was performing as Laertes in Hamlet and had planned to join Davis after completing another three weeks of the production.

Heartbreak arrived when McDonald learned that Davis had fallen in love with Goldblum. According to his recollection, fellow actor Ed Begley Jr. delivered the news while McDonald was still working on the Shakespeare production. McDonald said he understood how something could happen between actors working closely together but acknowledged that understanding the circumstances did not make the breakup painless.

From Broken Engagement to Thelma & Louise

Davis and Goldblum went on to marry in 1987 after their relationship began during the making of Transylvania 6-5000. They appeared together in other movies, including The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy, before divorcing in 1990. Davis later described that relationship as an important chapter in her life.

The extraordinary twist came in 1991, when Ridley Scott cast McDonald as Darryl, the husband of Davis’ character Louise, in Thelma & Louise. McDonald recalled that Davis initially did not know he had been chosen for the role. When Scott told her, she reportedly revealed that she had previously dated McDonald. The awkwardness apparently gave way to laughter, a lunch together and, fittingly, staged wedding photographs for the movie’s set.

Heartbreak ultimately became a chapter McDonald could look back on without apparent bitterness. Davis herself acknowledged in her 2022 memoir that she had broken his heart and expressed gratitude that he eventually forgave her. McDonald later married actress Lupe Gidley in 1992, while Davis continued her own career and family life. The remarkable part of their story is not simply the breakup—it is that decades of Hollywood history turned an old romantic wound into an unexpectedly warm professional reunion. Buzz Legit will continue following the stories behind the stars whose real lives can sometimes rival their movies.