In the 1990s, "American Sweetheart" Meg Ryan can be said to be known to everyone, and the romantic comedies she starred in, such as "Seattle Sleepless", "When Harry Met Sally", "E-Love Letters", etc., were grossing at the box office.
In 2000, Meg caused a career crisis due to an extramarital affair, and her glory has never been more.
In Hollywood, extramarital affairs are not uncommon, and as long as the parties handle them properly, most of them can survive the crisis safely. Unfortunately, Meg Ryan made the mistakes and eventually destroyed his original career. An in-depth analysis of the beginning and end of her career setbacks reveals that she made four mistakes:
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" data-track="20" > don't listen to mom</h1>
Meg Ryan's first mistake was not listening to her mother. Jay Chou's "Listen to Your Mother's Words" has a lyric - why listen to your mother's words, you will begin to understand when you grow up. Meg didn't seem to understand it when she grew up.
In 1976, Meg's mother, Susan, tired of housewife life, divorced Meg's father and traveled alone to New York to chase her youthful dreams. Susan is very talented in acting and was an actress before marriage. After arriving in New York, she found a job related to acting, and planned to use this job to meet the agents of the show business and pave the way for her daughter Meg to enter the show business in the future.
Unable to understand Susan's behavior, 15-year-old Meg wishes she had her mother by her side and answered her questions about proms, first dates, first kisses, and more. Meg, who felt abandoned by her mother, planted the seeds of resentment in her heart.
After graduating from high school, Meg signed up with a brokerage company with susan's help and began shooting some commercials. In 1981, through Susan's connections, Meg starred in her first film, "The Year of The Old Dream of Qionglou".
Meg's relationship with Susan has always been strained, and one of the things that broke Susan's heart the most was that when she had breast cancer surgery in 1979, her other children visited her in the hospital, but Meg didn't go, not even a phone call.
In 1991, Meg was preparing to marry actor Dennis Quaid. The marriage was strongly opposed by Susan.
Dennis is a notorious "bad boy" and addict, and Susan unceremoniously says that Meg wants to marry him because "Meg wants to play Dennis's savior."
Meg and Dennis Quaid
How could Meg, who was already dissatisfied with Susan and overwhelmed by love, listen to her mother's opinion. The mother and daughter had a big fight, and the stubborn Meg decided to completely break off relations with Susan, telling the people around her not to tell Susan her contact information.
In 1992, when Meg and Dennis's son was born, Dennis said to Susan, "You never expect to see your grandson." ”
Nine years later, Meg and Dennis's marriage came to an end. Upon hearing this, Susan felt hopeful that she would reconcile with Meg, "If she (Meg) calls me now, I will tell her that I love her." Knowing that she is living a happy life, I will feel calm. I don't blame Dennis Quaid, but it all started with him, and I hope that the opposite (of me and my daughter) will also end because of him. ”
Unfortunately, Meg is not an easy person to forgive, according to her friend, it was Susan who did not want Meg first, so Meg did not intend to reconcile with her mother.
(Left) Susan, (right) Meg
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" data-track="143" > no stop loss in time</h1>
When Meg and Dennis first got married, Dennis was more famous than Meg. With the popularity of films such as "Seattle Sleepless", the status of the two people was reversed. Seeing more and more people on the street recognizing Meg and calling out her name, Dennis felt the pressure she had never felt before, "I felt like I was gone. I never thought I was that small, but I really was. ”
Cocaine and alcohol were Dennis's panacea for stress relief and a catalyst for the breakdown of their marriage.
Eight years after the divorce, Meg admitted in an interview that her marriage to Dennis had long been in trouble, "My relationship with Dennis simply could not be sustained, should have ended five years earlier, and I should have left early." ”
Indeed, if she had divorced sooner, the latter things would not have happened.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" data-track="208" > don't understand crisis PR</h1>
In 2000, Meg and action star Russell Crowe had an affair with each other while filming the film Evidence of Life. In November, the media photographed them walking hand in hand on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York.
Tabloids liked the news the most, and for a time, rumors were overwhelming. Meg chose to ignore the rumors, feeling that she had done nothing wrong and did not care what others thought. Soon, under the rendering of the tabloids, Meg changed from "sweetheart" to "slut".
Meg and Dennis divorced in 2001, and everyone believed that the woman's extramarital affair caused their marriage to break up.
Russell was silent on the matter from start to finish, and Meg did not reveal the details of the divorce, only insisting that Russell was not the reason for her divorce.
Under outside pressure, Meg and Russell's relationship lasted less than a year, and after breaking up with Meg, Russell issued a statement, "Meg is a beautiful and brave lady, I grieve for the loss of her company, but I did not lose her friendship." ”
Meg said that she didn't care about other people's opinions, but in fact, she still cared a lot in her heart. In 2008, she told the media that Dennis had been unfaithful to her for a long time, that she was very bitter, and that she had separated from Dennis long before the divorce.
"The media attention (divorce) has damaged my career, but it is a relief for me personally."
"Divorce is hard. Love is hard. All of this is private, not for mass consumption, and tabloid headlines will never report on the complexities of life or marriage. ”
She revisited the matter after the passage of time, supposedly to explain the reason for the divorce, but this explanation came too late, and her career losses were irreparable. It's all because she doesn't know how to do crisis PR and misses the best time to respond.
When an extramarital affair is exposed, is Meg a better option than divorce? Of course.
First of all, Dennis does not want to divorce, Meg can completely push the boat, join hands with Dennis and his wife, show love in public, smash rumors, or engage in an American version of "and do and cherish", declaring that the husband forgives his wife because of love, the husband has no opinion, and the melon-eating masses will naturally disperse. After the rumors of extramarital affairs subsided, it was not too late for the two to talk about divorce.
Meg is in a hurry to escape a failed marriage with a new relationship, and because she has had enough of Dennis, she uses Russell as a lifesaver. The stubbornness in her character leads her to take a dead-end approach when a crisis occurs, rather than lowering her posture and minimizing losses.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" data-track="240" > blind transformation</h1>
Meg did not explain to the public at the time of the divorce, first, she felt that she did not need it, and second, she did not want to continue to be a "sweetheart". Sweet in appearance, she seems to have an easy-going personality, but she is actually very assertive. Tom Hanks, an actor she has worked with, once said, "Meg is not lively, and I always have the impression that this woman is not easy to mess with." ”
Not wanting to be stereotyped, Meg began experimenting with other types of roles. It may be that the cheating incident has made people more harsh and critical of her, or it may be that the role she has chosen is not suitable, or both reasons exist, in short, at this time, she has lost the time and place, the transformation attempts have failed one after another, and the new films starring her are not good at the box office and word of mouth.
To make matters worse, a new generation of "sweethearts" has sprung up, with Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, and so on, and Meg is unlikely to play the role of American Sweetheart again.
One of the things that the actress cares about most is her face aging, and in order to "rejuvenate", Meg, who is over 40 years old, has performed many botulinum toxin and lip filling injections. People soon find that Meg has become unrecognizable, especially the lips, which look very contradictory, simply "crippled". Faced with an unfamiliar face, the audience's impression of Meg's past is gone, and her acting career is almost back to square one.
There was no hope for the actor on this road, and Meg changed careers to become a director. In 2015, her directorial debut Ithaca was released. The film grossed so poorly that it all added up to less than $20,000, and Meg's career as a director came to an end.
Since then, Meg has faded out of Hollywood, focusing her life on family and philanthropy.
summary
Whether Meg Ryan married Dennis Quaid out of love or simply to "save" him, I'm afraid she herself doesn't know. There was chemistry between her and Russell, and if nothing else, she should have had time to see herself inside.
Celebrities' privacy will be amplified by the media for public scrutiny and judgment. Since there was no premeditated plan for the extramarital affair crisis, when the crisis occurred, Meg could not clear her mind and reacted completely instinctively, hurting herself and hurting others. Years later, she reflected on the past, believing that the experience had made her grow, and felt guilty about hurting Russell.
The failure of the two relationships made Meg lose faith in the marriage. In 2011, she met the famous rock musician John Melenkamp. The two separated and lived together for 8 years, reunited after breaking up, got engaged after compounding, and finally broke up again in 2019. As for the reasons for the two breakups, the first time is that the woman does not want to get married, and the second time is that the man does not want to get married.
Meg with John Melenkamp
It can be seen from Meg's handling of feelings that she is a strong personality, preferring not to bend and not to compromise easily. She is also a person who is not comfortable with the status quo (like her mother), always wants to challenge herself, constantly try new things, and find the limits of her abilities.
Although Meg's later attempts did not reach the heights she once had, from a first-line star to an ordinary actor, she did not stagnate or complain, but maintained a positive attitude, using setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow.
Not everyone has the opportunity to climb into the clouds, and not everyone who falls from the clouds to the bottom can get up and move on. Meg Ryan did it, and that alone deserves our admiration.
Further reading:
How have Dennis and Russell been doing lately?
Dennis ushered in the second spring of his career after rehabilitating from drugs. In 2020, Dennis, 66, married his fourth wife, Laura Savoy, 27. Laura is not only young and beautiful, but also a student with a doctorate.
Dennis and Laura Savoy
Russell's relationship with his new girlfriend, Britney Thyriot, is also going well. Britney is 26 years younger than Russell and is a real estate agent.
Russell and Britney Thyriot
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