Now 51-year-old, the actress/producer is still well known and beloved, but she has not appeared in a major role since 2009, and is almost never seen in public.
However, a recent article about Ryan's quieter life set the Internet ablaze this week.
A friend of Ryan's, Delia Ephron, appeared in People magazine's cover story about the actress, revealing the starlet's decision to surrender the spotlight.
Instead of living in Hollywood's star-studded enclaves, Ryan does her best to go unnoticed in her downtown Manhattan neighborhood and occasionally vacations on Martha's Vineyard.
"Living in New York makes you different," Ephron explained. "Los Angeles is just about movies. New York is about so much more than that, and so is Meg."
According to Ryan's friend, the actress has shied away from stardom in order to focus on her 8-year-old daughter Daisy and her rocker boyfriend, John Mellencamp.
Another reason Ryan may have opted for reclusion from the media may lie in her painful but "liberating" split from husband Dennis Quaid in 2001.
Following the actors' divorce, but parties admitted to having extra-marital affairs, and in 2008, Ryan even opened up about her affair with "Proof of Life" co-star Russell Crowe.
"So this is what it feels like to be the scarlet woman," she told InStyle magazine. "Oh! I'm having that experience now! It was also incredibly liberating. Now I was utterly free. I didn't have to care what people thought. I have gotten to do what I guess I secretly wanted to do. Be totally under the radar and live my life."
Nevertheless, members of the media still manage to catch the actress along her ordinary outings.
Among Ryan's most popular movies are "Top Gun," "When Harry Met Sally," and "City of Angles," and many more.
The actress' most recent appearances include television roles on "Web Therapy" and one stint on "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
