Julianna Margulies was never tempted to date George Clooney while filming ER

Julianna Margulies is glad she and George Clooney didn't hook up on ER, because she would have hated them to have had a bad relationship on set following a painful split.

During a recent appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, the actress admitted she and George often joke and thank God nothing romantic happened between them while they were filming the hospital drama back in the 1990s, because now they're lifelong friends.

"He used to say, 'You don't s**t where you eat,'" Julianna laughed. "What he meant by that was the famous story about Moonlighting with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. They had sex on the pilot. And then the show got picked up - and then they hated each other.

"Or David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (on The X-Files). The same thing happened. And then they hate each other and you're stuck on a show for seven years together. That's agony. Life's too short."

The star added: "You just want to have the crush keep going and going. And that's what worked."

Julianna, 54, has been married to Keith Lieberthal since 2007.