Susan Sarandon opens up about Tim Robbins split, love and ping-pong

 Susan Sarandon is opening up about her love life, her kids and her love of ping-pong in a new interview.

The actress, who split with Tim Robbins in 2009 after more than 20 years and two children together, said her role in the play "Exit the King" made her reevaluate her relationship.

"You can't do a meditation on death and stay in a situation that's not authentic," Sarandon, 67, told AARP The Magazine in its February/March cover story. "It made me examine where I was in my union and in my life, and to have discussions about making changes."

As for her love life now, she demurred when asked about her relationship with 36-year-old Jonathan Bricklin, with whom she launched the New York City ping-pong nightclub SPiN.  

"Jonathan and I collaborate on different things. That means a lot of things." When asked if those things include romance, she replied, "Yeah, I think so."

Sarandon is serious about ping-pong (It "cuts across every demographic, age and body type. Girls can beat their fathers. And even if you’re old, you can play it forever"), as well as having no regrets.

"It's better to have made decisions that turned out badly and learn from them than to feel as if you had no choice and are resentful of the turns that your life takes…My life has been filled with happy accidents. The thing that’s served me well is being able to change onto a different track when it’s presented itself."

Still, not every change is easy. The actress says she's adjusting to letting her children (daughter Eva Amurri Martino and sons Jack and Miles) go.

"It's been hard for me to let go of thinking of dinner at 6 o'clock,” she admitted. "I want to see them in places where they can pay the rent, and then I'll feel that’s done."

The Oscar winner and social activist, who will receive AARP The Magazine's lifetime achievement award at its Movies For Grownups Awards gala next week, also says getting older has given her perspective.

"It's the simple things," she said. “With age, you gain maybe not wisdom, but at least a bigger picture."