Kiefer Sutherland has revealed what went wrong with his early romance with Julia Roberts.

The couple met on the set of 1990 film Flatliners and he left his first wife Camelia Kath and then two year old daughter Sarah to be with the Pretty Woman star. However, after announcing their engagement in August 1990 and planning a lavish wedding the following June, Julia called off the ceremony just three days before they were set to exchange their vows and fled to Ireland with Kiefer’s friend, and Lost Boys co-star, Jason Patric. Julia is said to have been spurred into action after finding out Kiefer had had a fling with stripper Amanda Rice - but now he’s admitted their problems went deeper than that.

He told Elle recently: “Well, at the time, I wanted to raise horses on a farm in Montana, and she was the number one actress on the planet.

“That didn’t create a specific rift but there was a gulf in what we actually wanted.

“There was a huge connection between us but… it was more like friends than the passionate relationship that she or I would have wanted. She saw that; I did not.”