Fiction got in the way of reality when it came to Martha Stewart s brief relationship with Anthony Hopkins.

In a Thursday appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show , Stewart confirmed that shed once dated Hopkins but called things off because she was so spooked by his Oscar-winning performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

I have a big, scary house in Maine thats way by itself on 100 acres in a forest, the lifestyle mogul said. I couldnt even imagine taking Anthony Hopkins there. I couldnt because all I could think of was him eating ... you know.

Watch Martha Stewarts interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show below.

Stewart did not specify the timing of the relationship, though the film came out in 1991. She split from Andrew Stewart, her husband of 29 years, in 1990 and remains single. Hopkins has been married three times, and tied the knot with his current wife, Stella Arroyave , in 2003.

Though DeGeneres seemed to be caught off guard by Stewarts confirmation, it isnt the first time Stewart has spoken about dating Hopkins.

In a 2014 appearance on The Meredith Viera Show , she acknowledged having gone to dinner with the actor a couple times. When asked how far the romance had progressed, she quipped, A girl should kiss and never tell.

Last month, Stewart talked about her night out with another famous would-be paramour, Larry King.

On Watch What Happens Live, she told Andy Cohen that King, who died last year, became a little amorous with her over dinner at Elios, an Italian restaurant in New York.

Though Stewart described King as a very nice man and one of the kindest TV journalists, she nonetheless stressed he was not my type romantically.