Entertainment Movies Geena Davis Says Short Marriage to Jeff Goldblum Was 'a Magical Chapter in My Life' Geena Davis' new book Dying of Politeness: A Memoir is out Oct. 11 By Nigel Smith Nigel Smith Nigel Smith is the Senior Movies News Editor for PEOPLE. He is an experienced culture editor and writer with a 12-year history of working in the online and print industries. People Editorial Guidelines Published on October 5, 2022 03:19PM EDT Photo: Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Geena Davis looks back on the biggest moments of her life in her new book Dying of Politeness: A Memoir, including her love story with Jeff Goldblum. The Thelma & Louise actress, now 66, met the Jurassic Park star, 69, while making 1985's Transylvania 6-5000. The pair were both coming out of heartbreak: Davis had finalized her divorce from her first husband, restaurateur Richard Emmolo, a year prior; Goldblum had recently split from his wife, actress Patricia Gaul. On the set of Transylvania 6-5000, the two actors hit it off immediately and a romance was soon born. "[Our relationship] was joyful. It really was. That was a magical chapter in my life," Davis recalls to PEOPLE in this week's issue. The pair went on to play doomed lovers in David Cronenberg's 1986 horror-romance The Fly. "Right away we got to work with each other on an incredible project," she remembers. "And we were so passionate about that project and loved working on it." How Having Kids Inspired Geena Davis to Do Something About Gender Inequality Onscreen Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The film was a hit and made them a celebrity couple overnight. Davis and Goldblum married a year later and appeared together again in 1988's Earth Girls Are Easy. Davis says she especially liked being wed to a fellow actor — "somebody who knows exactly what you're going through" and who "was not in competition" with her. She ultimately called it quits with Goldblum in 1990, but still looks back on their time together with fondness. "It was great," she says. Dying of Politeness, out Oct. 11, also details the forming of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The Television Academy recently awarded Davis with the Governors Award for her work with the foundation, which she founded in 2004, "in recognition of their efforts to promote gender balance and foster inclusion throughout the entertainment industry." For more on Geena Davis, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.