Kevin Bacon recalls moving to New York in 1976 and living in a 'flophouse' $150-a-month apartment

Kevin Bacon recently recalled living in a New York "flophouse" after sleeping on his sister's couch for four months. The Pennsylvania native, now 65, moved to the Big Apple in 1976 and his first ever apartment was a two-room apartment that he shared with a total stranger for "$150 a month," he revealed on the Kelly Clarkson Show. The "Footloose" star told host Kelly Clarkson that he found his own space after spotting “an ad on the back of the Village Voice, and it said 'Artists, actors, musicians residence,' and I thought, 'Well, that sounds good.'"

But the listing wasn't true to the description it proclaimed it to be. "It was basically a flophouse," he continued. "I guess there were some artists there, but not a lot." After being told there were no single-room apartments, the actor spontaneously agreed to become roommates with the man sitting next to him at the rental office. "He was like, 'You want to live together?' I was like, 'Yeah, okay.' We lived together for four years," explained Bacon. "In fact, I just had lunch with him the other day." He turned out to be a classical pianist who worked nights at the Copacabana. Bacon admitted that it was "really cool" to hear him play at home. 

Clarkson revealed that she had a similar experience when moving from Texas to Los Angeles with a "random person that I did not know." She admitted that everyone in the entertainment industry has had a "crazy" living experience at one point or another because in her case their apartment burned down. "I slept in my car for a few days, and then tried out for a show called 'American Idol,' so it all worked out,” she explained. “I feel like everyone in this industry has some crazy thing where you’ve either lived in your car, or on a mattress in someone’s house. You really got to want your dream.”

As for Bacon, he is now happy in his Connecticut farmhouse and loves spending time at home in the kitchen with his wife, Kyra Sedgwick. "We really switch off. We love to cook, and we love to eat," he told PEOPLE. "Cooking and eating together is something that we've always done as a family." This tradition has been passed on to their daughter Sosie, 31, and son Travis, 34. "We never gave them lessons," he explained. "We never sat down and said, 'Okay, this is how you cook.' But just in the course of life, they've ended up making great, great dishes, and they both really enjoy it."

As for the couple, they've been together for over 35 years! Through the decades, the pair has worked together on different projects and they both share a passion for their work. The "River Wild" actor has noted that his wife has "made a lot more sacrifices than I’ve made," when it comes to balancing their work and family life.

"Kyra felt really strongly that, when she started to have children, she needed to be there for them," he shared. In fact, she was the one who made a strong commitment to being a parent first, according to him. "In many cases, because of the kids, she would make decisions careerwise that weren’t the best for her career. We kept staying in New York because we wanted to raise them in New York, but there was more work in Los Angeles. For the most part, she's the one that did the sacrificing," the "Hollow Man" star told Glamour.