“The first time I met Clint, it was instant. We knew we were meant to be together.” This was how Sondra Locke, the captivating actress and director, described her initial encounter with Clint Eastwood. Their relationship, which began during the production of The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1975, seemed magical to the outside world. However, beneath the surface of their glamorous Hollywood life lay a complex and often tumultuous partnership that lasted for more than a decade.
Locke’s life before Eastwood had been marked by ambition and independence. A talented actress, she had earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter in 1968. By the time she met Eastwood, she was already a seasoned actress with a strong sense of who she was. But everything changed when she entered into a relationship with him.
For much of their 14-year relationship, Locke was portrayed in the media as the lucky woman who had captured Eastwood’s heart, while he was lauded for his rugged, masculine charm. The reality was far more complicated. While Locke appeared in several of Eastwood’s films during the late ’70s and early ’80s, including The Gauntlet and Sudden Impact, she was increasingly isolated from other opportunities in Hollywood. According to Locke, Eastwood controlled most aspects of her professional life, insisting she work only with him and rarely allowing her to pursue independent projects. She later admitted that their relationship came with a cost: “Clint wanted me to work only with him,” she said. “He didn’t like the idea of me being away from him.”
Their relationship, while full of passionate highs, was fraught with personal struggles. Eastwood was still married to Maggie Johnson when he and Locke began their affair. Despite Eastwood’s claims that his marriage was an open one, Locke found herself in an emotionally confusing situation. She and Eastwood lived together for over a decade, yet he remained legally married, contributing to the tension between them. Locke eventually described feeling like she was living in a façade, unable to truly define her place in his life, while the world watched her as nothing more than Eastwood’s lover.
Throughout their time together, Locke’s career gradually took a backseat to Eastwood’s. She was cast in supporting roles in his films, but she never attained the same level of stardom that his other leading ladies enjoyed. While Locke had directorial ambitions, her opportunities were limited, often dependent on Eastwood’s approval or support. Her directorial debut, Ratboy (1986), was a passion project that Eastwood agreed to produce through his company Malpaso Productions. However, the film did poorly in the U.S., and Locke would later reflect that she was not given the kind of support she needed to succeed as a filmmaker. The tension between her ambitions and his overpowering presence in her career was ever-present.
Things came to a head in the late ’80s. Locke was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989, and it was during this period that their relationship began to unravel. Eastwood, who had fathered two children with another woman during their relationship, abruptly ended things with Locke. According to Locke’s later testimony in court, Eastwood had changed the locks on their Bel-Air home and had her possessions removed while she was away directing Impulse. Locke, who had been emotionally and financially dependent on Eastwood for years, was left devastated.
In 1989, Locke filed a palimony lawsuit against Eastwood, seeking compensation for the years they had spent together. The case revealed the darker side of their relationship, with Locke detailing how she had undergone two abortions and a tubal ligation at Eastwood’s insistence. She argued that he had controlled not just her career but her personal life as well. The case was eventually settled, with Eastwood providing her with a development deal at Warner Bros. in exchange for her dropping the lawsuit. However, Locke soon discovered that the deal was a sham; Warner Bros. rejected every script she proposed, and she was never given the opportunity to direct or produce any films under the agreement.
In 1995, Locke sued Eastwood again, this time for fraud, accusing him of intentionally sabotaging her career by setting up a fake development deal. This lawsuit was also settled out of court, but Locke’s legal battles against Eastwood became a defining part of her later years. She described him as a manipulative and controlling man, whose public persona was vastly different from the man she knew behind closed doors.
Locke’s relationship with Eastwood, once seen as a Hollywood fairy tale, ended in bitter legal disputes that left her emotionally and professionally scarred. She later reflected on their time together with mixed emotions, stating, “Clint’s cruelty to me was shocking, but it also made me stronger. In the end, I think he did me a favor because I learned how to stand up for myself.” Despite the pain, Locke continued to pursue her passion for filmmaking and left behind a legacy as a talented, resilient woman who fought for her place in an industry dominated by powerful men.
