Linda Hamilton has suggested that filmmaker James Cameron was in love with her Terminator alter ego Sarah Connor during their “terribly mismatched” marriage.

The pair met on the set of 1984’s The Terminator and began a relationship after the filming of 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Speaking to the New York Times while promoting the sequel Terminator: Dark Fate, Hamilton said that the pair’s relationship “was a mystery to all of us – even Jim and myself – because we are terribly mismatched. I used to say we fit together like a puzzle. Everywhere he’s convex, I’m concave.”

She added that she thinks Cameron “really fell in love with Sarah Connor. And I did, too”.

“But I’m so glad to be free of [the relationship]. I would never, ever put that much energy again into something that is not working.”

Cameron echoed Hamilton’s sentiments, saying that he initially fell in love with her because he thought she was closer to the character of Sarah Connor than she actually is. “I think we were just in this high-velocity spiral around each other for a long time,” he said. “We were fascinated by each other.”

Despite their feelings for each other, the two were unable to make their relationship work. They got married in 1997, but their marriage ended in 1999. Hamilton said that the breakup left her “completely devastated for years”. “But I’m so glad to be free of [the relationship]. I would never, ever put that much energy again into something that is not working,” she said.

After their split, Hamilton took a step back from acting. “I woke up one day and I was like, ‘Well, here I am in my beautiful mansion and my kids aren’t here, my agents aren’t calling, and this is not real,” she said. “I love my along time like no one you’ve ever met.” She revealed that she had been celibate for at least 15 years, saying that it “just doesn’t matter” to her.