Meg Ryan Defends Her Son Against Nepo Baby Label _ E! News

Transcript

00:00 Meg Ryan is pushing back on her son Jack Quaid being labeled a nepo baby.

00:04 In a new interview with Glamour magazine, the actress explains that Jack has real talent

00:09 and didn't become successful just because of who his parents are, saying,

00:13 "Jack is really talented. He's more of a natural than I'll ever be.

00:17 That nepo stuff is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts, and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege."

00:23 Her 31-year-old son, whom she shares with ex-husband and fellow actor Dennis Quaid,

00:28 is currently starring in the Amazon action series The Boys,

00:32 and has appeared in other titles such as Oppenheimer and Scream.

00:35 Meg says she knew that from a young age, her son had the acting bug and the talent to back it up, recalling,

00:42 "I remember seeing him in a middle school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

00:46 He was playing Bottom. I was newly divorced from his dad, and he was seated at the other side of the gym.

00:51 I had my head in my hands, and I was like, 'Oh, no, he's good. He's really good.'

00:57 I leaned forward, and I see Dennis, and he's also leaning forward with his head in his hands. I just knew."

01:03 But Meg confesses she didn't want her son to follow in his parents' footsteps and gain international fame, saying,

01:09 "You don't wish it on anyone. It's too hard, and it's too weird."

01:13 But as her ex-husband explained on The Kelly Clarkson Show back in 2020,

01:17 Jack was determined to succeed, and he didn't want his famous parents' help.

01:22 "You know, just a very, very young kid. He had a video camera in his hand when he was like four years old,

01:27 making his own videos and stuff. And it was just a natural thing that he did.

01:31 It wasn't anything we pushed him towards. His mom's Meg Ryan. Ever since he was a kid,

01:36 it was kind of obvious that he was going to do that. And we didn't, you know, he went through

01:41 like high school drama and stuff. He didn't work as an actor."

01:46 "Did he ask you for advice?"

01:49 "Yeah, I guess he asked me for advice, but my agent wanted to represent him. And he said, 'No, I want to do it on my own.'

01:55 And then, of course, he gets an agent on his own, and then he gets his first movie is Hunger Games.

02:02 And then he gets in Scorsese's Vinyl on television, which was the hottest show there was.

02:08 And now he's doing The Boys, which is like the hottest thing on streaming.

02:12 And it's a great show. And so I'm saying like, 'Hey, I'll help over here. I don't care.'"

02:18 "What are you doing?"

02:20 It's awesome, though. That kind of is cool for him to...

02:23 Because I bet if you're a kid of someone so super famous, they're always like,

02:26 'Oh, your parents got you here.' It's probably nice that he got to do it kind of on his own a bit."

02:30 "Yeah, I mean, you know, he's just...

02:31 He's just a really... You know, even more than an actor, he's just really turned out to be a really fine man."

02:39 (MUSIC)