Meg Ryan Fires Back at Claims She’s Become ‘Unrecognizable’

Meg Ryan has finally addressed critics who say she looks “unrecognizable” after apparent plastic surgery, telling Glamour in a cover story that published online Thursday that it’s not “worth it” for her to spend time thinking about the insults of gossip culture.

“I can’t pay attention to it. I just can’t,” she said. “It’s not worth it. Of course that would hurt someone’s feelings, but there are so many more interesting things to think about. Meanness and hatred are just so stupid.”

Ryan, 62, stopped short of confirming if she had plastic surgery done, but told the magazine she’s learned to embrace aging and that she now considers herself to be “old.”

“As an old person now, I love my age,” she said. “I love where I’m at. Aging is not that terrifying. We’re all doing it. I wish someone had told me earlier, ‘Just relax. It is what it is. Don’t pay attention to the obstacles.’”

The interview comes on the heels of scores of fans—and tabloids—alleging that Ryan looks entirely different from her younger self.

The celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Sam Rizk told the New York Post earlier this month that it looked like Ryan had a botched procedure that left her face looking a “mess.”

“I think she had a bad facelift in the wrong direction,” he said, adding that the facelift appears to have gone “sideways, instead of vertical.”

Ryan’s changing looks has been a hot topic of discussion among fans as the famed rom-com actress recently starred in What Happens Later, her first film feature in eight years.

The film was largely viewed as a flop by Ryan’s high standards, which includes a rom-com résumé of features in When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail. But the actress insists she won’t let the world’s negativity keep her down, adding that she no longer watches her mouth like she used to.

“There’s a time in your teens and 20s where you’re trying on personalities to figure out who you are, who to be,” she told Glamour. “With age, you get to a place where you say what you mean without thinking about how it’s going to land. You just say what you want.”