LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Despite her mother's desire for reunion, Meg Ryan's parents' divorce set into action a chain of circumstances that ultimately caused her to break away from her family altogether. Although Meg Ryan is best recognized as the 'Queen of the Romantic Comedy' known for her bubbly personality on-screen, her private life has been far darker.
"I think her 'cuteness' sometimes blinds people to how genuinely gifted she is as a comic actress," director of 'Sleepless in Seattle' Nora Ephron said in a 1995 Vanity Fair interview. Meg's co-star in the movie, Tom Hanks, remarked, "Meg is not perky, I always got the distinct impression that this woman is not to be messed around with."
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Meg lost touch with her mother, Susan Jordan, following a dispute over Dennis Quaid, whom she married in 1991. Still, she continued to have a cordial relationship with her father, Harry Hyra. Harry told PEOPLE, "I have a talking relationship with my daughter that I fostered for years, that I have worked hard to mend."
'Susan was talented and had been a housewife since we got married'
Meg, however, claimed that their issues started before her union with Dennis Quaid. Meg's parents chose to get divorced in 1976 while she was growing up in Fairfield, Connecticut as a devoted Catholic with a brother and two sisters. Early in their twenties, Harry and Susan got married, but Susan soon felt she needed more from life. Harry told the newspaper, "Susan was talented and had been a housewife since we got married," Harry told the publication. "She wanted more." Susan then got into her Ford Pinto and left Harry to look after the kids while she looked for an acting job in New York, as per reports.
'I could meet all the agents and introduce them to Peggy'
Meg's friend, Tracy Parsons said, "It was hard for her not to have her mother at home, in terms of proms and first dates and first kisses. She was very unhappy." Though Susan didn't leave her kids' life, she did work as a casting director's assistant to make relationships that would benefit Meg's career. She said, "One of the main reasons I took that job was so I could meet all the agents and introduce them to Peggy (Meg's family nickname). I tried out once for a part in a TV commercial to help pay for basic expenses that my job couldn't cover," as reported by Amomama.
Meg's mother took her to casting agencies when she graduated from high school, which led to her getting jobs in commercials. Meg then received her first role in a feature film, 'Rich and Famous', opposite Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen thanks to Susan's connections.
But at the same time, Susan struggled with serious health concerns that necessitated a mastectomy in 1992, further straining her tense relationship with Meg. Susan said, "When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1979, every member of my family came to see me in the hospital after my mastectomy except for Peggy. She wouldn't take one day off from college to come to see me. She didn't even call. She said she just didn't feel comfortable," as per reports.
'She had to discredit me to preserve her image'
In 1979, Susan brought the kids back to live with her while Meg attended New York University to pursue a career in journalism. The family began to drift apart after Meg met Dennis Quaid in 1990 and they got into a fight over his drug usage. Susan said, "But I think it was a very handy thing for her to do, to present herself as a savior of this troubled soul who was a drug addict. How would it have looked if it came out that I had noticed this first? She had to discredit me to preserve her image."
Meg believed Susan had abandoned her in favor of a Hollywood lifestyle, and as a result of their disagreements with Dennis' drug use, Meg's parents were not invited to their 1991 wedding. By this point, Meg had stopped talking to her parents and had even told her friends and other family members to keep Susan's contact information and address to themselves.
In April of the following year, Meg gave birth to their baby, Jack Henry, and Dennis, according to Susan, stated their viewpoint. "He told me I would never be able to see my grandson," Susan remembered. But Meg and Dennis' marriage dissolved nine years later, and she soon found herself in Russell Crowe's embrace. Crowe and Meg were photographed becoming "affectionate" on a trip to London after filming the romance drama 'Proof of Life' together in Ecuador for more than a month.
'They were definitely very affectionate and flirtatious'
According to a businessman who was seated next to them, "He was leaning over her, kissing her on the neck and stroking her hair—and it went on that way the whole flight. They were definitely very affectionate and flirtatious. It was certainly more than you'd want your wife or girlfriend doing with another man," as per reports.
After Meg and Dennis separated, Susan stated her desire for a mother-daughter reunion. "If she called me now, I would tell her that I love her. It would give me peace to know that she is leading a happy life. I can't blame Dennis Quaid, but I think it's strange it all started with him. Now, I hope it's not too much to pray that this separation ends with him, as well."
'Sure, I still love her'
In a 2019 interview with Independent, Dennis said that he still had feelings for Meg. "Sure, I still love her," Dennis said. "I'm very fond of her, and we have a lot of fun. We spent 13 good years together. We had a kid together, and we shared so much: she made my life." Meg Ryan was his second marriage. He was previously married to actress PJ Soles. His third wife was Kimberly Buffington who he divorced in 2018.
Dennis was not invited to Meg's engagement to artist John Mellencamp's wedding, which took place later that year. Dennis reflected on why his marriage to Meg didn't work out and revealed the causes of their marital dissolution in a tell-all interview with Today’s Megyn Kelly. The relationship, according to Quaid, was partly derailed because he was jealous of her success as the 'Queen of RomComs'. “When we met, you know, I was the big deal and then my career [came to a halt],” Quaid said, imitating the sound of a car slamming to a stop. “We’d go out on the streets of New York and it would be like ‘Meg! Meg!’” he says of the press, “and I have to admit it, I actually did feel like I disappeared. I didn’t think I was that small … but I was.”