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At the tail end of the 90s, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid were already yesterday’s A-listers. Their Hollywood reign ended with blockbuster rom-coms and high-adrenaline action films respectively, and emerging stars like Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, and Tom Cruise began to take over.
Russell Crowe was among those emerging stars who made a historic mark in the industry with the Ridley Scott epic,Gladiator. But before the 2000 film brought Crowe to the forefront of Hollywood, he starred in an action flick with Meg Ryan that culminated in a controversial affair of romantic entanglements and the end of a decade-long marriage between 2 established A-listers.
Joe Rogan Brings Up the Controversial Past
The Joe Rogan Experienceremains one of the most controversial podcasts on air. From astrophysics to Hollywood cult conspiracies – the podcast touches upon every issue imaginable, analyzing and dissecting the topic on hand with experts from respective fields for hours on end. Often it falls onJoe Rogan, the host, to throw in a catalyst into the mix and watch his guests fumble.
One such fumble could be seen on his episode with Academy Award-winning actor,Russell Crowewhen he randomly threwDennis Quaid‘s name into the midst of the conversation. Quaid has been a consistent figurehead in the public eye, primarily as an actor, now as a country singer. However, when placed in the same sentence as Russell Crowe, he becomes a controversial subject due to Crowe’s highly publicized affair with Quaid’s former wife,Meg Ryan.
“He’s a tough thing to resist”: Carrie Fisher Defended Meg Ryan’s Affair With Russell Crowe That Broke Her 9 Years of Marriage With Dennis Quaid
Although the subject was an avoidable one, Joe Rogan cleverly placed Quaid’s name within the context of their conversation while talking about celebrity encounters. InJRE Episode 2191, aired on August 11, 2025, Rogan claimed:
I always feel like, ‘This is going to go away.’ And then I’m like, ‘Nope, Russell Crowe, oh wow!’ I met Dennis Quaid the other day, same thing. It’s like, ‘Oh it’s Dennis Quaid.’ Just seems so strange.
Even though it has been decades since the end of Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan’s affair, the topic is still a somewhat volatile one, considering the uncomfortable silence that followed from Crowe’s end.
The Celebrity Affair That Raised a Riot
Since the beginning of time, celebrity relationships andcontroversial affairshave been a persistent occurrence, leading to turning points in pop culture history – whether it be Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Marilyn Monroe and JFK, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, or even Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan.
While filming Taylor Hackford’s action thriller film,Proof of Lifein 2000, scandal erupted when tabloids leaked a high-profile affair between leading stars Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan. The latter was married to Dennis Quaid at the time which then culminated in a legal separation in June 2000 and divorce in July 2001, ending Ryan and Quaid’s decade-long marriage.
Meg Ryan Doesn’t Blame Her Affair With Russell Crowe for Breaking Her Marriage: ‘It was never about another man’
Later, the rom-com star admitted in an October 2008 interview withInStyle[viaNBC Washington]:
It was a great story. 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.
Referring to the much-circulated tabloid headlines that crucified both Ryan and Crowe after their affair had gone public, Ryan claimed:
I think [Crowe] took a big hit. But Russell didn’t break up the marriage. He was definitely there at the end, but it wasn’t his fault. I was a mess. I hurt him too at the end. I couldn’t be in another long relationship, it wasn’t the time for that. So I got out.
In the same interview, Meg Ryan admitted that she did not want to be labeled as a victim. The publicized affair forced the actress to step out of the limelight and lay low for years due to the brash scrutiny and blame that was being parried onto her. Her status as Hollywood’s “scarlet woman” caused irreparable harm to her professional career as well as her reputation as the beloved star of rom-coms likeSleepless in SeattleandWhen Harry Met Sally.
Proof of Lifeis available to buy/rent on Apple TV and Prime Video.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2408
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
