Meg Ryan Stuns With Her Fresh-Faced Look

It's rare to see Meg Ryan on the red carpet these days, but the 59-year-old actor was once a Hollywood darling. Her star-making role came in 1989 when she showed audiences how easy it is to fake the big O in "When Harry Met Sally," but this was far from the climax of her career. She would go on to grace some of the biggest rom-coms of the '90s with her winsome smile and wild curls, and she cemented herself as America's Sweetheart by starring alongside Tom Hanks in beloved classics like "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail."

But Ryan began to fade from the public eye in the wake of bad press from her 2000 affair with her "Proof of Life" co-star Russell Crowe, speculation that she had altered her looks too much with plastic surgery, and a lack of job offers that she was interested in. Ryan didn't mind losing her status as the squeaky-clean girl next door. "My time as a scarlet woman was really interesting. As painful as it was, it was also incredibly liberating. I didn't have to care about what people thought," she told InStyle in 2008, per Today. She also didn't mourn the end of Hollywood's love affair with her. "I think the feeling with Hollywood was mutual. I felt done when they felt done, probably," she said during a 2019 New York Times Magazine interview.

However, it turns out that she's not quite finished with Tinsel Town just yet.

Meg Ryan made her triumphant return to the red carpet at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures gala on September 26 (via The Daily Mail). The "City of Angels" actor looked stunning in a black floral-print gown designed by Ulyana Sergeenko, as seen above. The sleeveless garment had a draped back and a floor-length skirt that flared out at the bottom. A front slit showcased Ryan's chunky black platform heels. She wore her long, blonde hair styled in loose waves, and her beauty look included plum lip gloss and dark eyeliner. But if you think Ryan has any interest in talking about her appearance after shunning the spotlight, think again. "There are more important conversations than how women look and how they are aging," she told Porter magazine in 2015 (via People).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, some of the gala's A-list attendees were honored with awards, including Ryan's four-time co-star Tom Hanks. There's no word on whether the actors had a happy reunion at the event, but we have our fingers crossed that they discussed working together again. In October 2020, a source did tell OK! Magazine that the longtime friends are open to the idea. "They'd love to do another movie together and it's just a matter of finding the right project," the insider said.

As for how gorgeous Ryan looked at the gala, we can only think of one thing to say: We'll "have what she's having."

While Meg Ryan hasn't acted in years, her son's Hollywood career is thriving. You might recognize Jack Quaid if you're a fan of the Amazon superhero series "The Boys," or maybe you saw him in his first role as Marvel in "The Hunger Games." His mom also helped him beef up his résumé when she decided to dabble in directing. In 2015, Jack appeared in her directorial debut "Ithaca," which also included a cameo by Tom Hanks.

Jack was 8 years old when his mom and dad, "The Parent Trap" star Dennis Quaid, went through a messy divorce. The public's reaction to the split left Ryan wishing she had done more to push back against the narrative that the tabloids were pushing about her affair with Russell Crowe. "I think I made a mistake in not talking more specifically," she told InStyle. She also said that Dennis had not been faithful to her.

While the couple parted on bad terms, they have raised a talented son who has a great deal of respect for his mother's work. In a true testament to his dedication to being a student of his craft, Jack actually managed to sit through Ryan's fake orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally." He was preparing to star in his own rom-com and figured it was time. "But then I watched it and I cried forever because I was so proud of her," he told USA Today.

When Meg Ryan attended the Tony Awards in 2016, she trended on Facebook ahead of the tragic Orlando shooting (via The New Daily). Twitter trolls compared her face to that of Jack Nicholson's version of The Joker and a character from the musical "Cats." The deluge of callous comments prompted Yahoo! News to point out that "plastic surgery shame" is a very real thing.

Ryan has not admitted to having any cosmetic procedures done, but her looks are often referenced in tabloid rumors about her life. In 2020, Gossip Cop debunked a story claiming that she had called off her wedding to on-again, off-again beau John Mellencamp because she was unhappy with the results of a nose job (via Suggest). But, regardless of what other people say about her appearance, Ryan is comfortable in her own skin. "I love the person I've become, the one I've evolved into," she told Porter in 2015 (via Entertainment Tonight). "In my life I've been scrappy as hell, but I feel easy with things now. I think that comes with age."