Meg Ryan has learned that love and romance are two "different" things.
The 63-year-old actress was married to Hollywood star Dennis Quaid, 70, from 1991 until 2001 and has son Jack, 32, with him but has also had relationships with A-Listers such as Russell Crowe and the late Matthew Perry and has admitted now that she has had to be "wary" about initial feelings of lust.
She told The Sunday Times: "One thing I’ve had to learn is to be really wary of something that feels like love at first sight, because love is different from romance. I think I'm still learning."
The 'When Harry Met Sally' star is also adoptive mother to Daisy, 20, and explained that she was "on the brink" of starting legal proceedings a number of times before she met the little one in China, but knew instantly that the time was "perfect" when it came around.
She added: "I always thought I’d adopt, and at various points I was on the brink of it. But it was particular to Daisy
, I guess. I don’t know how events conspired to bring us together, but it was perfect."
From 2010 to 2014, Meg was in a relationship with American singer/songwriter John Mellencamp, they then reunited in 2017 and were engaged in November 2018 but they called things off for the final time in October 2019.
Meg - who co-wrote and made her directorial debut on 2023 romantic comedy 'What Happens Later', also starring opposite David Duchovny - insists stepping away from the "bubble of fame" enhanced her life and made her a "more interesting human being".
Explaining her motivation for taking a break from acting in an interview with Italian publication IO Donna, she said: "I needed other experiences, to meet people outside the film industry. For this reason I moved to New York, I raised my daughter Daisy, and then on I started travelling, especially to distant countries.
"When you are up to your neck in the 'bubble of fame' you cannot suddenly free yourself from it, you always remain somehow lost in the labyrinth of notoriety. But you know what? I'd had enough, I'm happy to have made that choice and moved away from that world: I became a better and more interesting human being."
