Meg Ryan Reveals She Left Hollywood For Her Children

Published: October 27, 2023

Meg Ryan Reveals She Left Hollywood For Her Children

By Movieguide® Contributor

Actress Meg Ryan is opening up about her decision to step away from Hollywood for almost a decade.

“I took a giant break because I felt like there’s just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop,” Ryan told PEOPLE, referring to her 8-year break from acting. “It’s nice to think of it as a job and not a lifestyle. And that is a great way of navigating it for me.”

One of those “parts of her experience” Ryan referred to is her role as a mother to son Jack, 31, whom she shares with Dennis Quaid, and daughter Daisy, 18, whom she adopted in 2006.

“Kids come into the world who they are,” the YOU’VE GOT MAIL actress said in a 2007 interview. “Jack is as different from me as Daisy is. Jack is different from his dad. He’s his own guy, and that’s how kids come, no matter how you get them. It’s just as much of a lottery with your own biological children as it is with an adopted child half the world away.”

Ryan explained “there was nothing random” about her finding Daisy, adding, “She is the daughter I should have.”

The actress has used her experience as a mother in other aspects of her movie-making career, specifically her work as a director.

“[Motherhood has changed me] fundamentally,” she explained. “I have two kids – I have Jack who is in his 20s now and my daughter who is 11 – and I think that part of my life served my [ability] to direct the best.”

Currently, Ryan is promoting her latest project, WHAT HAPPENS LATER, her first romantic comedy role in 15 years and her second outing as director.

“It came to me during lockdown,” she said of the movie, which features David Duchovny as her co-star. “The essence of it is these two people who are stuck together. I just love that idea that we’re held in a space, even if it feels conflicted, maybe for reasons that heal them.”

Ryan continued, “It’s a little roller-coaster ride between these two people, and it asks the question in a way: Will they or won’t they end up together? These are people who broke one another’s hearts way back when. And I think what they gained is that they have gratitude for that.”