Meg Ryan Was 'Happy to Not Deal With All the BS That Comes With Being Famous' During Her Time Away From Hollywood

Meg Ryan shot to fame in 1989 with her lead role in the romantic-comedy classic When Harry Met Sally. Dubbed "America's Sweetheart," the actress worked alongside some of the biggest actors in the business throughout the '90s and become one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood at the height of her fame.

Her life took a major turn in the early 2000s following the end of her 10-year marriage to ex-husband Dennis Quaid. She eventually moved to New York City to raise her kids — Jack Quaid, 31, and adopted daughter Daisy True, 19 — and despite still acting, she quietly shifted away from Tinseltown and her formerly fast-paced lifestyle.

The Sleepless in Seattle star later took an extended break from her bustling entertainment career after marking her directorial debut with Ithaca in 2015. Now, after eight years, Ryan has burst back onto the acting scene with her new flick, What Happens Later.

"Meg enjoyed her time away from Hollywood and was happy to not have to deal with all the BS that comes with being famous," an insider dished to a news outlet, noting that she felt "compelled" to star and direct in the upcoming rom-com. "She’s very proud of this movie."

As for the reason behind her break from fame, Ryan admitted in 2015 that she simply felt "burned out."

"I didn't feel like I knew enough anymore about myself or the world to reflect it as an actor. I felt isolated," she continued. "I felt like I was behind a window looking at my life."

Three years later, the You've Got Mail star confessed in a sit-down with Gwyneth Paltrow that acting hadn't ever been her dream.

"I was a journalism major at school, and a curious person, and I wanted to go back out into the world and figure out who I was — am — in relationship to other things and other people and other environment," she said at the time. "The whole idea of being a famous person ... I felt like a witness to, I didn’t feel exactly in it, and I think that was a really good thing. I felt like a student of it in a way, or that I was watching it in an anthropological way."

"There's a certain degree of blankness that needs to happen so that people can project on you," she noted. "Despite what you may think, people don't really want to know all that much about you. They want to imagine the best or the worst."

As OK! previously reported, the 61-year-old eventually "reached a point where she didn’t want to be the center of attention or caught up in the Hollywood scene anymore."

"When people ask her if she misses that old glitzy lifestyle, she’ll just say, ‘Been there, done that!’ " the source explained. "Meg loves her low-key life. She’s happier than she’s ever been."

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!