Meg Ryan Feels Like the 'Luckiest Person You're Ever Going to Meet': 'I Don't Look at the Downside'

Mar. 15, 2025

Meg Ryan at the Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia on Aug. 20, 2024.Photo:BACKGRID

BACKGRID

Meg Ryanis thankful for how her life has played out.

TheWhat Happens Lateractress and director touched on gratitude and perspective during a “Masterclass” talk at the Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia on Tuesday, Aug. 20, where she is being honored with theHonorary Heart of Sarajevo.

“I am the luckiest person you’re ever going to meet,” she added. “I don’t have feelings like I’m being denied anything. I have a charmed existence and I work with incredible people.”

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Meg Ryan and Danis Tanović at the Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia on Aug. 20, 2024.BACKGRID

Addressing aging in the showbusiness industry, theWhen Harry Met Sallystar said, “There’s no doubt that for anybody older, roles are limited — for an actor."

“But those limits don’t exist for a director or a producer. And at a certain point you just want to say what you mean. And sometimes, that’s not about being an actor," added Ryan, perVariety.

“Our culture is so obsessed with youth,” Ryan continued. “As anold person now, I love my age. I love where I’m at.”

Meg Ryan in Los Angeles on Sept. 25, 2021.Amy Sussman/Getty Images

“We’re all doing it. I wish someone had told me earlier, ‘Just relax. It is what it is. Don’t pay attention to the obstacles,’ ” added theYou’ve Got Mailactress.

What Happens Later, Ryan’s romantic comedy costarringDavid Duchovny, premiered in November of last year. It marked her first movie since 2015, and second time directing a feature film.

Of stepping away from the spotlight in the years before, the actress — who’s mom to sonJack Quaid, 32, with ex-husbandDennis Quaid, and daughterDaisy, 18, whom she adopted in 2006 — told PEOPLE in October 2023, “Itook a giant breakbecause I felt like there’s just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop."

“It’s nice to think of it as a job and not a lifestyle," Ryan added of her career. “And that is a great way of navigating it for me.”

source: people.com