Susan Sarandon and her much younger boyfriend, SPiN New York co-founder Jonathan Bricklin, have split after five years following a disagreement over a reality show, Page Six has exclusively learned.
Bricklin, 37, and Sarandon, 68, both appear on Morgan Spurlock’s new AOL series “Connected,” which centers on six New Yorkers and their partners who were handed cameras to document their lives for six months.
The show, which will air its first episode on March 31, highlights entrepreneur and filmmaker Bricklin’s relationship with Oscar winner Sarandon, but we’re told she grew increasingly annoyed about their private lives being filmed.
“It caused a lot of strain in the relationship,” a source told us. “It’s documented for the show that Susan breaks up with him because she doesn’t want to be involved with the show. She says, ‘You’re a cast member, I’m not.’”
Despite not wanting to be a reality star, Sarandon’s name is listed as Bricklin’s girlfriend in a press release for the show. She is about to start shooting the movie “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” with Kathy Bates.
“As of now, they’re working on things,” our source said of Sarandon and Bricklin, but it’s unclear whether they’ll get back together.
The “Thelma & Louise” star and Bricklin — who have a 31-year age difference — have been dating since 2010, when they met on a road trip to Chile. The couple had been notoriously private about their relationship, but Sarandon opened up to Hello magazine about their coupling in October: “It’s the soul of a person that interests me . . . When you are in love, the questions of age, sex, color no longer hold any importance.”
Sarandon, who had been in a long-term relationship with actor Tim Robbins prior to meeting Bricklin, is an investor in Bricklin’s pingpong franchise. We also heard the show caused strife between Bricklin and his SPiN New York partners — but a SPiN rep insists he’s still a partner in the business. Reps for Sarandon and Bricklin didn’t get back to us Wednesday.
On Thursday, Bricklin released a statement to People, confirming the complexity of the couple’s relationship:
“Susan and I have a lot of respect and great admiration for each other. It’s impossible to concisely characterize our relationship, other than to say that it continues to evolve in new and unexpected ways. She supported my decision to be a part of AOL’s ‘Connected’, and making this series about my life has brought up real and somewhat unexplored issues, but it didn’t break us up,” he said.