Meg Ryan rose to stardom in the nineties, quickly becoming a household name and a romantic comedy icon. But at the height of her fame, Ryan went from being everyone's favorite crush to suddenly fading away. Join us as we find out what happened to America's sweetheart.

After appearing in some smaller TV and movie roles in the early eighties, Ryan landed a part in the 1986 classic, Top Gun, opposite Tom Cruise. Just three years later, the actress starred with Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally, firmly cementing her status as a future romantic comedy queen. She then met Tom Hanks on the set of Joe Versus the Volcano in 1990, and they soon became an iconic on-screen couple, following up the comedy with other classics like Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.

Ryan met actor Dennis Quaid on the set of 1987 flick Innerspace. The couple got married in 1991, and welcomed their son, Jack, in 1992. Jack Quaid also caught the acting bug and now stars in The Boys.

But things changed in 2000, when Meg Ryan starred alongside Hollywood's bad boy, Russell Crowe, in Proof of Life. The two started a romance right around the same time Ryan decided to divorce her husband, Quaid. Because of how quickly her new relationship began, people assumed Ryan and Crowe had been having an affair. As a result, Ryan's union with Crowe painted her in a totally different light. As InStyle said of Ryan's relationship with Crowe,

"The squeaky-clean persona she'd cultivated from a decade of rom-com success was overwritten by her perceived indiscretion."

Of her changing public perception, Ryan told W Magazine,

"I found myself in a hotel lobby in London...thinking, all of a sudden, 'So this is what it feels like to be the Scarlet Woman.' Oh! I'm having that experience now!"

Despite all of the attention and hype, Ryan and Crowe's romance fizzled out by December 2000. But the scandal involving Crowe wasn't the only turning point in Ryan's career. She acted in 2003's In the Cut, which was met with scathing reviews and because of this, Ryan said to The New York Times,

"I think the feeling with Hollywood was mutual. I felt done when they felt done, probably."

As her position in Hollywood shifted, Meg Ryan moved from acting to directing with the 2015 movie Ithaca, which centered around World War II, and co starred Tom Hanks. A shift in roles gave Ryan a new perspective on her life and she told The New York Times,

"I was burned out. I didn't feel like I knew enough anymore about myself or the world to reflect it as an actor. I felt isolated."

Ryan added that being famous as a young person was very confusing, and told The New York Times,

"You're at a disadvantage as a young, famous person because you don't know who's telling you the truth. I'm not complaining...but there are fundamental disadvantages for a part of your brain, your self, your soul. My experiences were too limited."

While looking back on her career, Ryan has given some serious thought to the way women are typecast in Hollywood. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Meg Ryan pushed back against her former label as America's Sweetheart, saying that labels like that don't allow for the full expression of a person. At the same time, Ryan spoke about ageism in Hollywood and said,

"The pressure was implicit. How you look, there's so much judgment."

It's totally unfair that Hollywood and audiences were too limited to see Ryan as anything other than a young, blonde, love interest in romantic comedies. However, Ryan seems to have risen above being typecast in her own way. She told Porter in 2015,

"I love my age. I love my life right now...I love the person I've become, the one I've evolved into."

While things may not be the same as they once were, Ryan seems to have found peace with her former life as a Hollywood starlet, and is now healthily detached from public opinion. Plus, she's slowly making her way back to romantic comedies, but this time she's in charge. As the actress revealed to The New York Times,

"I like that again now, working on a romantic comedy...You feel like you're jinxing it if you're talking about it. Hopefully it's for me to direct." Watch the video to learn Why We Don't See Much of Meg Ryan Anymore!

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