Sally Field Told She Wasn't 'Pretty Enough' to Be in Movies

"You're not pretty enough. You're not good enough," her agent said.

ByABC News
April 3, 2015, 11:44 AM
Actress Sally Field speaks to a sold out audience of more than 3,300 attendees at the 2015 Simmons Leadership Conference at World Trade Center, April 2, 2015, in Boston.
Actress Sally Field speaks to a sold out audience of more than 3,300 attendees at the 2015 Simmons Leadership Conference at World Trade Center, April 2, 2015, in Boston.
Paul Marotta/Getty Images

— -- When Sally Field wanted to make the transition from TV to movies in the 1970s, she was told flat out she couldn't do it.

Her agent at the time said, "You can't get into film. You're not pretty enough. You're not good enough," Field revealed Thursday at a conference in Boston, according to People magazine.

Field, 68, said the comment completely changed her life.

"I said, 'You're fired.' And at the same time, I also left my husband because he was like, 'Well, what will we do? We don't have any money.' And I said, 'Well, get out.'"

Field is obviously now an Oscar-winning actress who is known for her acceptance speech and saying, "You like me, you really like me!"

Field was also at the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston this week to talk about her openly gay son, of whom she couldn't be prouder.

"It wasn't until he was about 21 or 22 that he sat and cried and cried and cried and said he was gay and said, 'What'll I do? What'll I do? I won't have a family, I won't have the dreams that I want, and I said, 'Yes, you will,'" she said. "There are too many families that don't understand that when you have a gay child, that it should be embraced ... it is not a lifestyle you choose because you think it's fun or popular or different. It's what nature said you are."