Cybill Shepherd expressed her gratitude for having moved past the tumultuous relationships with Bruce Willis and Christine Baranski.
In an interview with People published on October 14, the 75-year-old actress detailed her relief that her long-standing feud with Moonlighting co-star Willis, 70, has been resolved following his dementia diagnosis and his decision to retire from acting.
“Absolutely, I’m very grateful for that,” she remarked. “It was certainly time for it to happen.”
The show Moonlighting, which aired from 1985 to 1989, featured Willis as private detective David Addison who reluctantly teamed up with Maddie Hayes, played by Shepherd, amidst his unexpected hardships. The chemistry and arguments that captivated audiences on-screen ultimately infiltrated the real-life relationship between the two actors.
In a 1990 episode of The Arsenio Hall Show, Willis humorously noted that he never socialized with Shepherd outside of their work together and jested about her continual reminiscing about their show, even years after its conclusion.
When asked by host Arsenio Hall if he would consider collaborating with Shepherd on a film in the future, the Die Hard star was dismissive of the idea.
“Not at this time. To be honest, Moonlighting was fantastic for me, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But we reached a point where it just wasn’t enjoyable any longer,” Willis admitted. “We also exhausted the possibilities for our characters.”
Willis acknowledged that he and Shepherd didn’t share a harmonious relationship while filming, explaining, “Working intensely for fourteen hours across five days a week year-round… I hold no grudges. I’ve moved on to other things now.”
Reflecting on their feud in 2000, Shepherd claimed that the romantic tension between Maddie and David escalated off-screen as well. She recounted a moment when she and Willis shared an intimate kiss, but later brought him a bottle of wine to see if they might act on that chemistry, only to be rebuffed.
“We never followed through with it,” she told The Scottish Daily Record, but was ultimately relieved that a romantic relationship never materialized, describing Willis as a “jerk.”
Yet, over a decade later, after Willis was diagnosed with aphasia in March 2022, Shepherd remarked in an Extra interview that she would “always love” her former co-star.
During her conversation with People on Tuesday, Shepherd also noted that her past issues with Cybill co-star Baranski, 73, have been resolved. Shepherd held the lead role in the ’90s sitcom, which aired from 1995 to 1998, portraying a woman pursuing her acting dreams, while Baranski played her best friend, Maryann.
“We’re fine now,” Shepherd shared with People regarding her relationship with Baranski. When questioned how they reached this better understanding, she replied, “We just talked and were really open-hearted with each other.”
In her memoir, Cybill Disobedience, published in 2000, Shepherd expressed that the friction between herself and Baranski stemmed from Baranski’s perceived aloofness. In response, Baranski revealed in a 2022 interview with The Guardian that while there were certainly “challenges” on set, she opted to focus on the positives, stating, “The show gave me so much in my career.”
