Dennis Quaid's Most Controversial Moments

Dennis Quaid might be known for having "The Right Stuff," but his meteoric rise as an actor throughout the '80s was not without controversy. In fact, making headlines has become a proud tradition that he continues to this day. Most recently, Quaid has been dabbling in politics, and he has become an outspoken voice on the right. When his new film "Reagan" was released in August 2024, he canonized his affiliation in a portrayal of famed Republican president Ronald Reagan.

From his trip to rehab to his very public divorce from Meg Ryan after 10 years of marriage, Quaid is no rookie to doing or saying whatever is on his mind, even if it goes against the grain. (Some might say his new, young wife could be an example of that). But before portraying the Gipper, Quaid had a decade-spanning career that saw him go from his hard-partying, real-life-meets-art portrayal of Jerry Lewis in "Great Balls of Fire" to our favorite divorced dad in "The Parent Trap." Now, his next act of headline-grabbing controversy seems to be to remind the world that not everyone in Hollywood is politically liberal.

Dennis Quaid put Facebook's parent company, Meta, in his sights after it allegedly wouldn't allow the marketing team behind "Reagan" to boost paid promotional material that contained his face. The social media platform also deactivated the film's official Facebook account twice after it posted various interview clips of Quaid talking about the movie. As reported by Fox News, the actor and his team said the networking service noted that the content mentioned "politicians or is about sensitive issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation."

Meta responded to the film's allegations. "This happened because our automated systems mistakenly determined that content about President Reagan required prior authorization in accordance with our policies for ads about social Issues, elections or politics," the company told Fox News. "This was a mistake, and the restriction on the ads has been lifted." For this part, Quaid took the response in stride and offered Facebook a private screening of the movie.

In August 2024, Dennis Quaid cozied up to podcast-king Joe Rogan when he appeared on his show to promote "Reagan." Over the course of their lengthy, sprawling conversation, Quaid, a self-declared independent, was not shy about his support for former president Donald Trump. In fact, he has been public about his support for Trump for years now. "People may call him an a******, but he's my a******," he told Piers Morgan in May 2024.

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic amid Trump's presidency, Quaid spoke in a promotional video on behalf of the White House. At the time, many interpreted it as him supporting then-president Trump's handling of the pandemic. But Quaid found the public outcry to his controversial statement to be an overreaction by a quick-to-cancel public. 

In an Instagram post, he said that his appearance in the White House's promotional video was being twisted for political reasons. "[It[ is being used by the cancel culture media, that I was doing a campaign ad and endorsement of Donald Trump, and that I was paid handsomely for this by diverted CDC funds," he said. The actor denied any such collusion at the time and said that his involvement with the PSA was meant for "raising awareness for COVID-19 and what we can still do to prevent lives being lost to this terrible, terrible virus."

Dennis Quaid was one of the hottest stars in the '80s, and it seems he learned a few lessons from the wild movie-making days of the '60s and '70s, saying that his own addiction to cocaine grew out of a time when having the drug on-set was pretty typical. Speaking to Megyn Kelly in 2018 for Today, Quaid said, "there was a completely different attitude" toward cocaine then, even saying it was factored into some film's budgets. This casual attitude seemingly contributed to his addiction, telling Kelly in the same interview, "I was basically doing cocaine pretty much on a daily basis during the 80s," he said on "Megyn Kelly Today." "I spent many, many a night screaming at God to 'Please take this away from me and I'll never do it again 'cause I've only got an hour before I have to be at work. Then at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I'd go, 'Oh, it's not so bad.'"

But everything changed in the '90s when he became engaged to famous, "I'll have what she's having" actress Meg Ryan. He told Kelly in the same interview that he made the decision to go to rehab and had "a white light experience where I saw myself either dead or losing everything that meant anything to me." He went on to say that coming clean to Ryan about his addiction was the beginning of the end for his need for cocaine.

Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan were known as a celebrity power couple through the 90s, but it was a third mega-celebrity who was initially rumored to have caused the split. Maximus himself, Russell Crowe, worked with Ryan on the 2000 thriller "Proof of Life", and rumors soon began to circle that he and Ryan had become romantically involved. However, Ryan later acknowledged that the infidelity had actually begun with Quaid, saying that she already knew at the time that he had not been faithful to her – meaning there were more problems in their marriage than her time on set with Crowe.

During a stop on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2006, Ryan spoke candidly about her marriage to Quaid. "I'm very sad actually that it all had come apart in the way it seemed to have," she said. "It was never about another man. It was only about what my and Dennis' relationship just couldn't sustain." She also acknowledged the eye-grabbing headlines that Crowe brought to their relationship. "I think once the tabloids get a hold of three celebrity names, you're just really in trouble ... I didn't leave my marriage for Russell Crowe," she claimed. For his part, Quaid still looks back fondly on his time with Ryan. "I don't regret anything about my marriage to Meg," he said during a 2024 appearance on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?"

Dennis Quaid may have accidentally used some generational slang that he didn't fully understand when he joked with ET about his son, "The Boys" star Jack Quaid, and his rising Hollywood career compared to his own, saying, "How bout a little help over here? I don't mind the nepo thing myself, okay? Reverse nepo, I'll take it!" The ensuing backlash that Dennis may have been taking credit for his son's successes misses the earlier part of the interview where Dennis gushes about his talented kid. "Really so proud of him," he said. "And he's making great choices. And you know, he's such a good, great person. Which is the most important thing of all."

Jack's also very-famous mother, Meg Ryan, dismissed the nepo baby allegations as well, telling Glamour in 2023 that she wouldn't wish a career in the public eye on anyone. Ryan went on to say about her son, "Jack is really talented. He's more of a natural than I'll ever be. That nepo stuff is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts, and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege." It is only the beginning of Jack's promising career, so who knows how akin he will be to his father's love-hate relationship with controversy, but the two may have some differing opinions at the family dinner table, as Jack Quaid took to Instagram to announce his support for Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee, a stark difference from his father's preferred choice of Donald Trump.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).