Dennis Quaid has opened up about the harassment and invasion of privacy that he suffered at the hands of the paparazzi during his high-profile divorce from ex-wife Meg Ryan in 2000. After a nine-year marriage and having one child together, the couple’s split became the hot topic of every tabloid that covered celebrities.
Along with a healthy amount of disdain for the press, Quaid says that being followed by the paparazzi during a highly vulnerable time in his life taught him valuable lessons. “There’d be vans outside of my house with listening devices,” Dennis said to People. “It was the very height of Meg’s career back then, but I look back at it and it’s taught me patience, I guess.”
Quaid also mentioned that he and Ryan do have correspondence occasionally. He said, “We talk about once a year. She has another life, and I do too. I think we both respect that.” Having moved on, Quaid spoke about his new wife Laura Savoie, describing life with her as “heaven.”
In a brief expression of his love for her, Quaid said, “Laura’s the love of my life. She came along and we have a bond with one another that I never had with anybody else before. I like waking up together. I like every moment of the day because we can do just simple stuff and it makes it worthwhile. It’s a joy of life that we share together.”
Quaid also added that their Christian faith plays a massively important role in the relationship. By having God and their faith as a pillar of the relationship, the couple has been able to maintain a strong and healthy respect for each other.
Quaid was also recently in the news after finding himself winning a battle against addiction. Once again, faith played a crucial role in his life, setting him free from the chains of addiction. Speaking to People, Quaid said, “I’m grateful to still be here, I’m grateful to be alive really every day. It’s important to really enjoy your ride in life as much as you can, because there’s a lot of challenges and stuff to knock it down.”
He reflected on his youth, growing up in a Baptist church and singing hymns every Sunday. Now, as a grown man, he has once again found those songs to be freeing and healing for his soul. “I grew up at the Baptist church,” he said. “I love the hymns that I remember from being a kid. The songs are self-reflective and self-examining, not churchy. All of us have a relationship with God, whether you’re a Christian or not.”
That strong relationship with God allowed Quaid to crawl out from under addiction and begin living a life that he is now proud of. One where he has a loving wife and a stable relationship with those were are no longer his.
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