EXCLUSIVE Back on March 27th, the Associated Press announced that actor Donald Sutherland would be publishing his memoir on November 12th.
“Made Up, But Still True” was coming from Crown Books, part of Penguin Random House.
But then the lavishly praised Sutherland — who had a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for movies like “MASH,” “Klute,” “Ordinary People,” “The Hunger Games” series, “Don’t Look Now” — died in July at age 88.
If you’re looking for the book today, however, you’re out of luck. Very quietly, the memoir has been moved to February 2026.
What happened? Crown has never announced the change, and the book was in their catalog for today.
But now friends say a lot happened. For one thing, Sutherland’s family, including his wife of 50 years and his famous actor son Keifer, knew anything about it.
Then it turned out that manuscript wasn’t just a genteel remembrance of Sutherland’s award winning past. Married three times, and father of five children Sutherland — I’m told — was incredibly indiscreet about all his relationships including past lovers.
In the early 70s, for example, Sutherland had a two year affair with his “Klute” co-star, Jane Fonda. The affair broke up his second marriage, to Shirley Douglas, with whom he had Kiefer and his sister, Rachel.
In the book, Sutherland is said to have been way too candid about his sex life. Despite the actor being known for his noble bearing, he is said to have let his hair down a bit too much in print. Indeed, Sutherland had previously confided in an interview that with GQ that when the couple visited the Chelsea Hotel in the early ‘70s “when the moonlight caught her perfect breasts,” he “stopped breathing.” In another interview, he told Entertainment Weekly “a juicy, not-fit-for-print story.”
I ran into Sutherland in 2018 in New York at Joe Allen’s restaurant when he was promoting an FX series called “Trust,” in which he played J. Paul Getty. Crochety is an understatement for his demeanor. Was he well when he was saying all these things and writing his book? Or was he just being himself?
Anyway, I’m told we’ll see a toned down version of “Made Up, But Still True” in 2026. Donald Sutherland’s reputation will remain in tact. Whew!
