Once upon a time, Meg Ryan was synonymous with perfectly formed rom-coms.
However, her status as America's queen of romance quickly plummeted when rumors of her
alleged extramarital relationship with Russell Crowe broke.
Let's shine a light on the truth behind the affair that halted Meg Ryan's career.
Rumors and half truths
Ryan and Crowe met while filming Proof of Life in 2000.
Later that year, they went public as a couple shortly after Ryan separated from her husband
of nine years, actor Dennis Quaid.
Tabloids quickly pounced with rumors that Ryan had engaged in an extra-marital affair
with Crowe, leading to the split from her husband.
The fallout was swift and devastating - for Ryan.
While Crowe was quickly let off the hook, maintaining his A-list superstar status, Ryan
became something of a Hollywood pariah, as fans punished her for supposedly cheating.
Ironically, though, Ryan told InStyle in 2008 that stories painting Quaid as the victim
weren't telling the whole story, as he apparently had been unfaithful to her.
"It was a great story, but what wasn't in the story was the reality of my marriage.
Dennis was not faithful to me for a long time, and that was very painful."
Ryan added in a conversation with Oprah Winfrey,
"Russell wasn't a homewrecker […] I did not leave my marriage for him.
I left because it was not working."
Backlash
Backlash didn't just come from fans and media, though.
According to the Guardian, after Proof of Life tanked at the box office, director Taylor
Hackford publicly blamed the behavior of his stars, saying,
"It had an indelible and very destructive effect on the release of the film in the U.S.,
because the real life story overpowered the film."
Crowe wasn't exactly thrilled with the comment, saying of Hackford,
"He's a f------ idiot.
No seriously - what a knob."
Too much, too soon
According to People, Ryan was, quote, "extremely infatuated" with Crowe.
Ryan's close friend, the late Carrie Fisher, told the magazine,
"He's a tough thing to resist [...] I was just glad I had a friend that got him.
If I can't have him, I want to hear what he's like - at some point, when she's willing to
talk."
Still, the romance didn't last long, and by the end of 2000, it was over.
According to People, the newly divorced Ryan felt like Crowe came on too strong.
"Ryan felt that Crowe's attention and gifts - including a puppy and a vintage 1963 Buick
Riviera - were 'too much too soon.’
It was overwhelming.'"
The end of the affair
Russell Crowe gave a rare statement about his split from Meg Ryan to Melbourne's Herald
Sun in February 2001.
"Meg is a beautiful and courageous lady.
I grieve the loss of her companionship, but I haven't lost her friendship."
And Ryan spoke well of Crowe, telling Hello!
In 2008,
"Russell was incredibly gracious to me during a really hard time and in the aftermath."
So why did she decide to end the relationship?
She told InStyle she needed to focus on herself.
"I was a mess.
I hurt him too at the end.
I couldn't be in another long relationship.
It wasn't the time for that.
So I got out."
It wasn't an easy decision, but she tod Hello! that it was the right decision.
"I empowered myself by not staying in the thing with Russell.
I felt it was going to be repeating some similar patterns that I'd just gotten out of and it
was a drag because I was crazy about him."
The only way out is through
Though she struggled for years with the fallout from her romance with Crowe and divorce from
Quaid, in 2019 Ryan told the New York Times that the experience of being wrongly portrayed
in the media ultimately liberated her from having to care about people's opinions.
"Divorce is hard.
Love is hard.
All those things were so personal.
They weren't for mass consumption.
The complexity of a life or a marriage is never going to exist in a headline or a tabloid.
That was a freeing thing to know."
She added,
"I didn't have to care about what people thought.
I have gotten to do what I guess I secretly wanted to do.
Be totally under the radar and live my life."
Hey, they say that living well is the best revenge.
So it's only fitting that in 2018, Ryan announced she had found new love with musician John
Mellencamp.
Good for you, Meg!
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