"And she’s my biggest fan. She just loves me, she notices little things about me," Meg Ryan says about her daughter.
Meg Ryan whom we all know from classics like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle had come under fire in the early 2000s after her split with husband Dennis Quaid. According to media outlets, her marriage fell apart because of the talented actor Russell Crowe. However, in 2008, Ryan took the opportunity to clear up all the confusion with the split and decided to set the story straight, according to TODAY. "It was a great story," she said at that time. "But what wasn’t in the story was the reality of my marriage for nine years. Dennis was not faithful to me for a long time, and that was very painful. I found out more about that once I was divorced." She has since focused on her family life and prioritized her children over her acting career. “[Motherhood has changed me] fundamentally,” she said. “I have two kids. And I think that part of my life served my [ability] to direct the best,” she told PEOPLE.
The duo's child, Jack Quaid, born in 1992 said in 2017 to Women's Wear Daily that his parents kept him away from the "Hollywood nonsense." He said, "Growing up, you’re able to at least see the culture projected out there, like the Hollywood nonsense, and you’re able to see it for what it is — nonsense. I had great parents. They really kept me away from that thing, that Hollywood-ness."
After Jack, the "scarlet woman" also has a daughter named Daisy, according to PEOPLE who Ryan adopted from China. Ryan feels that “events conspired” to lead her to her daughter. Meg recalls. “I had a plan to go to India, and was on my way to India, when I got this little picture [of Daisy] and they said,’ Here’s your daughter!'” She was in India when she got the phone call for the adoption. "I never laughed harder or cried more…I was so nervous about the whole thing," she admits. She explains, "I was supposed to leave India on the 16th and the [orphanage] said I could meet her on the 18th in China, and it was only like a six-hour flight, so it was sort of inevitable.”
While she was raising the toddler, she noticed how easy it was to be with her, she told PEOPLE. "Daisy doesn’t feel hard. She doesn’t feel like…there’s no sweat on it man." Adding that, "She’s a good hang, and she’s easy. She’s very smart and she’s very generous. I love that she’s funny. I love that. I just can’t imagine what it was like before she came. Life is good, it’s so good with her in it. She and Jack get along great. All of us fit together beautifully."
As Daisy grew up, Ryan described her as a curious child. "She’s very, very interested in over-articulating. And she’s my biggest fan. She just loves me, she notices little things about me. She’ll just say ‘Oh mom, your arm hair it’s so, so soft.’ And then she’ll go, ‘You are blocking the TV.'" She also shared how both her children are their own people. "Kids come into the world who they are," she started. "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."
Jack Henry Quaid is now 30 years old and Daisy True Ryan is 18 years old.
References:
https://www.today.com/popculture/meg-ryan-says-dennis-quaid-cheated-her-wbna26859077
https://people.com/celebrity/meg-ryan-on-motherhood-and-tom-hanks-quirkiest-quality/
https://wwd.com/eye/people/jack-quaid-spotlight-on-sxsw-10848097/
https://people.com/parents/meg-ryan-on-adoption-i-never-laughed-harder-or-cried-more/
https://people.com/parents/in_progress_the/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Kevin Winter