Dennis Quaid has opened up about his decade-long marriage to “America's Sweetheart” Meg Ryan. But despite the former Hollywood power couple's tumultuous divorce, Quaid, 70, says he has no regrets about their union.
Max while participating in the latest episode of the talk show Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? On Friday, September 6, to promote his new biographical drama ReaganQuaid was asked if the high-profile attention surrounding his relationship with Ryan had put pressure and strain on their marriage. As Wallace noted, Ryan was the more famous of the two at the time of their split.
“When I met Meg, I was here career-wise and she was here too and then everything just fell into place [makes whooshing sound] “That's it,” Quaid said, gesturing with his hands to show how his popularity was rising. “I tried to be a big person and tell myself it didn't bother me, but people are people. And while I was in rehab, it was rising.”
“Meg is a really wonderful, sweet person and really talented and deserved all of her success,” she continued. “But I found myself as a human being. And actually, that really helped me in my research for Ronald Reagan, that [first wife] Jane Wyman, who won an Academy Award when her career was on the decline. And I understand what that feels like, and it's part of being human.”
“But I don't regret anything about my marriage to Meg,” Quaid added. “And we got Jack Quaid out of this, who I think will outshine both of us.”
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Quaid and Ryan have been married since 1991 and separated in 2000 before finalizing their divorce in 2001. During their split, Ryan set the rumor mill in motion when she was linked to actor Russell Crowe while filming the 2000 action thriller Proof of LifeHowever, per Page BottomShe told Oprah Winfrey in 2006 that her affair with Crowe had nothing to do with the end of her “very unhealthy marriage.”
“I was very upset that it fell apart the way it did. It was never about any other guy. It was just about what my relationship with Dennis couldn't sustain,” she said at the time. “I think when the tabloids get their hands on three famous names, you're really in trouble… I didn't leave my marriage for Russell Crowe. I left my marriage.”
Years later, in an interview in 2008, StylishRyan claimed that he wasn't the only one who cheated during the couple's marriage.
“It was a great story. But what wasn't in the story was the reality of my nine-year marriage,” she claimed. “Dennis was unfaithful to me for a long time, and that was very painful. I learned more about that after we got divorced.”
It's unclear whether Ryan has any regrets about his marriage like his ex-wife, but it seems safe to say it's all behind him now.