Whatever Happened to America's Sweetheart? A Pictorial

By Cindy Davis | Posted Under Miscellaneous | Comments (43)

I came across a few images of Meg Ryan at the start of the weekend and nearly fell out of my chair. The actress has been away from the big screen for a little while (good idea), apparently getting ready to direct her first feature film. The last time I saw her was when she made a guest appearance on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and that was shocking enough. (By the way Larry, just when I thought you had gotten yourself into ALL the trouble, you did what you did last night…) But back to our girl Meg, Jesopus H. Godtopus, what has she done to her face? People are always talking about Nicole Kidman’s botox; she’s got nothing on Ryan. And of all the women out there doing stuff to their faces, I think I’m most disappointed in Meg. She was so damned adorable and she could have aged pretty gracefully, she always seemed like a natural girl.

So here’s a pictorial ode and a look back at America’s Sweetheart. You may find it more satisfying to start from the bottom…

1986 Top Gun:

1988 D.O.A.:

1989 When Harry Met Sally:

1990 Joe Versus the Volcano:

1992 Prelude to a Kiss:

1994 I.Q.:

1995 French Kiss:

1998 City of Angels:

1998 You’ve Got Mail:

2000 Hanging Up:

2007 In the Land of Women:

2008 The Women:

2009 Serious Moonlight:

2011:

July 2011:

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be surgically altered.

Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance

← It's Like Déjà F*cking Vu All Over Again: When Actors Recycle Roles | There's A Sudden Flood Of Spike Lee Joints Coming Our Way: Oldboy Remakes And Mookie Returns? →

Comments

On the other side of that last equation:

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be ~~surgically altered~~ George Jones.

I'm here to help.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 11, 2011 5:11 PM

When the flesh affected by Botox draws up tight, does it make sounds like piano strings? Just kidding, of course.

Meg, Meg, Meg ... what are you doing? Did someone convince you that the Ugly Reptilian Look was the 'in' thing to have?

Posted by: The Wanderer at July 11, 2011 5:19 PM

There's no way that last picture is her.

Clearly that's a wandering indigent with freaky deaky arms, and (let's face it) a cute dress.

And who's hand is she holding? Teen Wolf's granddad?

Meg! Come back to the light!

Posted by: nix at July 11, 2011 5:21 PM

Mn she was cute back in the day. Really, is that Mellencamp with her? Those lips must do the job- maybe that's why she's messed them up so bad.

Posted by: jp at July 11, 2011 5:27 PM

Where's "Innerspace"?

Posted by: Jay at July 11, 2011 5:29 PM

Think she's trying to morph into Michelle Pfeiffer somehow?

Posted by: Jerry at July 11, 2011 5:36 PM

While I'm not pleased with Meg botoxing herself she still looks way better than Kidman's botched botox (Botchtox?) forehead thing.

Posted by: Paultera at July 11, 2011 5:38 PM

I'm more concerned about her arms in the last picture. WTF is going on there?

Posted by: Slash at July 11, 2011 5:52 PM

That picture from The Women has to be airbrushed. I saw the previews for that, and she looked way scarier.

Posted by: Jeni at July 11, 2011 5:52 PM

She always looked like a doll. Now she looks like a real-doll.

Posted by: superasente at July 11, 2011 6:00 PM

Don't you mean Waylon Jennings? Who was hella awesome btw.

Posted by: dahlia6 at July 11, 2011 6:36 PM

Is she dating John Cougar Mellencamp? I mean that seriously. Is that him in the last pic?

On one hand it's kind of cute; on the other, her arms give me nightmares.

Posted by: beet salad at July 11, 2011 6:38 PM

Her arms are all viney in the last pic. Like Madge's arms, but worse.

Doesn't Meg Ryan have an agent or someone who advises her? I just don't understand how she could go from being the most adorable actress in HoWood to ...this.

This is wrong and sad. Someone should have told her a long time ago: STEP AWAY FROM THE FILLER.

Posted by: Stinky at July 11, 2011 6:46 PM

She has the exact same look on her face in DOA and French Kiss.

and yes she is dating John Mellencamp, supposedly.

Posted by: mswas at July 11, 2011 6:58 PM

I want her hair from French Kiss. It's ridiculous how cute it is. ARGH.

Posted by: Figgy at July 11, 2011 7:15 PM

Hers is a tale of what happens to adulterous sinners.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at July 11, 2011 7:46 PM

Meg Ryan in French Kiss is cuter than a basket of kittens. I always thought she was so beautiful- the pixie hair, those huge blue eyes, the tomboyish clothes. Then she had to go and fuck it all up with plastic surgery she didn't need. I see pictures of her now and just feel stabby.

Posted by: LaRhue at July 11, 2011 7:46 PM

Holy shit, she looks like male version of Mark Hamil. Maybe they could do a twin movie like Adam Sandler, too.

Posted by: Jeremy at July 11, 2011 8:03 PM

Ah, yes. French Kiss hair, the height of the Sally Hershberger shag.

I was never that impressed with it, even when they made the stylists recreate it on Shear Genius season 1.

Posted by: Jerry at July 11, 2011 8:03 PM

Why bother with that ultra-airbrushed photo from the Women. That's NOT what she looks like in that movie. That's not what anybody looks like in real life.

Posted by: valerie at July 11, 2011 8:39 PM

Other than her lips and a certain waxiness to her features, I really don't think she looks that bad considering she's going to be 50 this year. I doubt there are any actors that look as good 30 years after their first appearance in TV or movies. The one who's a horror show is Melanie Griffith.

Posted by: snapnhiss at July 11, 2011 8:57 PM

Meg used to be cute as a kitten.
Now she makes kittens cry. And barf.

Posted by: Odnon at July 11, 2011 10:00 PM

@Barbado Slim==yeah, and let he who is without sin cast the first slam.

By the way, her ex-husband was a well-known addict, and it was rumored that he fooled around on her. While I'm not excusing it, I don't think she should be slut=shamed forever. It's Hollywood--almost everyone has some skeletons in their closet. Some people just hide theirs better.

I think the real reason Meg is no longer working is because of her bad plastic surgery. She's simply not believeable as a character other than plastic surgery victim. Sad.

Posted by: Kat at July 11, 2011 11:24 PM

The one who's a horror show is Melanie Griffith.

Funny that you would say that, because I was going to say Meg is starting to look like Melanie Griffith. I think you can see they've both had a lot of work done around the eyes and mouth. Anyway, yeah, Meg was so purty and I do think she would've aged well without plastic surgery. I hope she stops now.

Posted by: Corntree at July 11, 2011 11:48 PM

Really, this isn't that bad. I've seen worse photos of her on various rag covers, but I guess we all have our terrible days.

The three main problems I can see are the botox, the shiny buffed skin (either from chemical peels or just swelling) and the lip plumping collagen.

Meg's charm, I think, came from her slightly thin, quirky and expressive lips and her cute crinkled brow (which I think is even mentioned in When Harry Met Sally). So the real horror here isn't that she's aged disgracefully, she's not frightful or ugly, it's that she's ruined those things that made her Meg.

All the things we fell in love with have been erased.

We'd sooner have a wrinkled, thin lipped, and perfectly adorable, aging, Meg Ryan. But the pressures of Hollywood and society have given us this bland, air brushed and polished, charactature of the girl we once adored.

We miss you, Meg.

Posted by: DarthBrookes at July 12, 2011 12:44 AM

Let's be honest. She was never that pretty in the first place. She knew it too. Too bad she doesn't realize that she's plain ugly now.

Posted by: Candy at July 12, 2011 1:10 AM

Why do you hate a woman for getting older? It's pretty pathetic.
Sorry, she's happy and mega-rich. Like she gives a sh*t what you think.

Posted by: StopTheHate at July 12, 2011 1:29 AM

Someone needs to read their own moniker....

Posted by: mswas at July 12, 2011 5:38 AM

She cheated with Russell Crowe. She gets a pass.

Posted by: kirbyjay at July 12, 2011 8:16 AM

That's quite a fucking jump from 2008 to 2009.
Holy shit...WTF happened?

Posted by: East Coast Ugly at July 12, 2011 9:01 AM

I had a huge crush on her because of Innerspace that culminated with Sleepless in Seattle. I haven't really thought of her since.

Also, mswas, thanks for making me laugh this early in the morning.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at July 12, 2011 10:13 AM

What strikes me as much as her freakifying face is all the shit movies she did. With the exception of "When Harry Met Sally" (which is really just a Woody Allen ripoff anyway), all of those movies are complete shit. You might enjoy some of them, I guess, but they're still shit.

Posted by: jimbob at July 12, 2011 10:32 AM

Fine. I'll say it.

She peaked at Top Gun.

Posted by: Kballs at July 12, 2011 10:42 AM

Not only is it Mellencamp, he divorced a supermodel after 18 years of marriage to date Meg instead. That's like doing it in reverse. I haven't seen a Meg Ryan film since You've Got Mail. Coincidence? I think not.

Posted by: Matt at July 12, 2011 10:55 AM

I think I see a string of drool hanging from her mouth in '88, '95 and '08. What is that look supposed to convey, beyond "I just got hit between the eyes with a 2X4"?

Posted by: , at July 12, 2011 11:11 AM

I wasn't aware of what was going on (whatever it was/is) with her until I saw In The Cut in 2004. It appears that it was either implied or expressed that she needed a different image to keep working in Hollywood. So sad.

Posted by: Mark at July 12, 2011 12:32 PM

Other than slightly inflated lips I don't see much change other than she is getting older. I have never had anything done but I look at younger pictures of myself and notice I had a softness I don't have anymore (I think they call it youth) now my features are more pronounced. She has probably had work done but if she hadn't everyone would be criticizing her for daring to age. You can't win. In the last picture her arms do look strange.

Posted by: Micin70 at July 12, 2011 12:35 PM

I see what you're getting at here, but a seven year jump in the middle (2000-2007) is a bit unfair. Yeah, she's scary, and looked lovely with those blonde slightly-shaggy boy cuts in the late 90s, but cut the lady some slack - she was likely trying to keep up in a fickle industry (see Kidman, Nicole and Hatcher, Teri) and, well, failed.
In the shot from I.Q., she is positively radiant. Shame.

Posted by: kellsbells at July 12, 2011 3:11 PM

In the last shot, obviously we can't really see the worked over cheeks or the lips very clearly, but my gawd! Those forearms? Did the special effects artist for the Matrix get a hold of her? She's a phlebotomist's dream. Shew.

And, isn't it cute she still holds hands with her dad in public?

Posted by: IneptFake at July 12, 2011 3:30 PM

I don't feel bad for her, because I've heard she's nasty IRL. That friendly, adorable, girl-next-door act is apparently just that - an act.

Posted by: Kristen from MA at July 12, 2011 4:01 PM

It doesn't look like she has had anything too permanent done. I bet if she stopped now that her face would bounce back and she'd be cute, adorably aging Meg Ryan again.

Posted by: stardust at July 12, 2011 9:53 PM

I don't think she's had much work at all. She shouldn't have had any, she doesn't have the right facial structure. Some people can have a buttload of work done and still look great (Demi Moore), other look weird after one minor procedure.

Posted by: KateMC at July 13, 2011 3:01 AM

In 2007 she turned into Melanie Griffith

Posted by: James at July 20, 2011 12:58 AM

Pajiba

Pajiba: Reviews, Commentary, Angst

Whatever Happened to America's Sweetheart? A Pictorial

Comments