Meg Ryan said Sunday that she feels “liberated” since she reached her 60s and stopped trying to please people.
The 62-year-old actress – who recently put on a stylish presentation at the 68th edition of the RNE Sant Jordi Awards in Barcelona – says with age comes maturity and wisdom and she now feels confident to express what she thinks and share her opinions on love, life and relationships.
In an interview with Italian publication IO Donna, she said: “I enjoy my years, I say that seriously.
“I appreciate my age. For me now it is more important to clearly say what you think rather than pleasing others and trying to make everyone happy.
“I almost feel liberated because I said certain things and made observations about love and relationships. And for trying to be honest. I can finally look back and be in the present at the same time.
The When Harry Met Sally star was married to actor Dennis Quaid from February 1991 to July 2001 and shares a son, Jack, 32.
In 2000, the blonde beauty joined actor Russell Crowe while working on their film Proof of Life, but that wasn’t meant to be.
From 2010 to 2014, Meg was in a relationship with Hurts So Good singer John Mellencamp.
They then got together in 2017 and got engaged in November 2018, but called it off for the last time in October 2019.
In January 2006, the Sleepless In Seattle star expanded her family by adopting a 14-month-old Chinese girl whom she named Daisy True.
-Just three years later, she took a break and left Hollywood, taking on only sporadic roles and projects.
Meg – who co-wrote and made her directorial debut in 2023 romantic comedy What Happens Later, also starring alongside David Duchovny – insists moving away from the “fame bubble” has improved her life and makes her a “more interesting human being”.
Explaining her motivation for taking a break from acting, she said: “I needed other experiences, to meet people outside the film industry.
“That’s why I moved to New York, raised my daughter Daisy, and then started traveling, including to faraway countries.
Ryan said stepping away from the spotlight helped her see things more clearly as she learned to balance her career and family.
“When you are up to your neck in the “bubble of fame”, you cannot suddenly free yourself from it, you always remain, in a way, lost in the labyrinth of notoriety.
‘But you know what? I had enough, I’m happy to have made this choice and to move away from this world: I became a better and more interesting human being,” she concluded.
Ryan rose to fame in the 1980s, playing female love interests in hit films such as Top Gun and When Harry Met Sally.
Over the years, she has become inextricably identified with romantic comedies, with her best-known roles including Sleepless In Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.
The starlet recently made her directorial debut with the romantic comedy What Happens Later which debuted in November.
