Anjelica Huston says she heard from an old ex-boyfriend after fleeing the Los Angeles wildfires: Jack Nicholson.

The Addams Family actress recalled reconnecting with her former partner during an interview with The Guardian. “I was in a car with three dogs, two cats, and the housekeeper, and he called and asked if I was all right, and if I had someplace I was staying,” Huston, 73, said of Nicholson, 87. “That’s the bottom line with he and I — when the chips are down, he’s there.”

Huston and the Shining star dated on and off from 1973 to 1990, and they starred in Prizzi’s Honor, The Last Tycoon, and The Postman Always Rings Twice together during that period. They also reunited in 1995’s The Crossing Guard — three years after Huston married sculptor Robert Graham, who died in 2008.

During the same interview, Huston reflected on why she stayed with Nicholson for so long despite a fairly tumultuous relationship — which included frequent rumors of the Chinatown star’s infidelity. “I loved him,” she said. “I think in the world that I was living in, it wasn’t disrespectful. It was how he was, and it wasn’t so personal. I think as soon as I clocked that, it was all right, I knew how to protect myself. It didn’t make me happy, but I knew what I was doing.”

Huston doesn’t seem to begrudge Nicholson for his conduct during their relationship. “I did what I wanted to do, and I did it with sureness,” she said. “If I wanted something, I knew how to go after it, so it wasn’t as though anything was being done to me. I wasn’t a wilting flower.”

The Royal Tenenbaums actress also clarified that her house is still intact after the wildfires. “My house almost burned down,” she said. “It came very, very close. My electricity and water and power are still off, but we were safe.”

Huston also gave her two cents on the state of the country during the Guardian interview. “America, at the moment, is in a sad and sorry state,” she said. “I think it has a lot to learn and hopefully won’t have to learn it the hard way. The world is beautiful, and if you can find something beautiful in [the US], then you’re already on the right track.”

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Huston will next star in BBC’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero. She recently provided voiceover performances in The French Dispatch and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Nicholson retired from screen acting in 2010, and has largely retreated from public life in the last few years. However, he made a rare on-screen appearance during last week’s SNL50: The Anniversary Special to introduce his Anger Management costar Adam Sandler.