Meg Ryan’s message for the haters: I love my age and the person I am

Ryan said there is too much hatred in the world today because people are so quick to judge
Fighting back: Meg Ryan in the PORTER magazine shoot
Pamela Hanson courtesy of Porter Magazine
Miranda Bryant1 December 2015
The Weekender

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Hollywood star Meg Ryan has hit back at the “haters” who criticise her appearance.

The actress, 54, told PORTER magazine: “There are more important conversations than how women look and how they are ageing.

“I love my age. I love my life right now. I love what I know about.

“I love the person I’ve become, the one I’ve evolved into. In my life I’ve been scrappy as hell, but I feel easy with things now. I think that comes with age.

“We get stuck in these conversations about looks and hair colour and our roots. It’s interesting and funny for five minutes, but it’s not that interesting.”

Ignore it: the actress turned director said she doesn't listen to negative comments Pamela Hanson courtesy of Porter Magazine
Pamela Hanson courtesy of Porter Magazine

Ryan, who has made her directorial debut with her latest film Ithaca — in which she also stars — ignores comments about herself in the media. “There’s a lot of hatred in the world today — it’s so easy to judge,” she said. “Imagine being a hater, how stupid!”

“My women friends are not sitting around talking about ... well, sometimes there are conversations like that, but the people I value talk about kids growing up, what kind of world they are going into, what we are eating, what we are breathing.”

The When Harry Met Sally star said she is “on a little break” romantically after a relationship with musician John Mellencamp, adding: “I’m with my life right now in a way that I adore, with my kids and my world.” Her marriage to Dennis Quaid ended in 2001. Their son Jack, 23, also stars in Ithaca.

The drama, based on William Saroyan’s 1943 novel The Human Comedy, is a coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy working as a bicycle telegram messenger in his fictional hometown of Ithaca, California, during the Second World War. Ryan, who also has a nine-year-old daughter, Daisy True, said the film deals with the idea of innocence.

“I think it is worth looking at innocence — what we lose when we no longer have it,” she added. “That’s a lot of what Ithaca is about. Innocence isn’t stupid, it’s powerful ... I’m just talking for myself, I’m not preaching, it’s just what I’m interested in.”

Mellencamp, 64, wrote the music for Ithaca and Ryan’s friend and long-time collaborator Tom Hanks plays a small but crucial part.

She described Hanks, 59, with whom she first starred in Joe Versus The Volcano in 1990 before their romantic comedy hits Sleepless In Seattle (1993) and You’ve Got Mail (1998), as a “dream” to direct.

She said: “He’s charming and open. He’s amazing, incredible. This is just one example of what he’s like. In the film, he had to whisper something to loop in later. He did it 20 times, again and again! He just wanted us to be happy.”

Sharing the spotlight: Meg Ryan appears in the magazine which sees Emma Watson grace the cover Porter Magazine
Porter Magazine

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