‘The Women’ Star Meg Ryan Talks Raising A Daughter & Stepping Away From The Spotlight

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Meg Ryan
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Meg Ryan walks the red carpet at the 2008 Crystal and Lucy Awards

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FIRST PUBLISHED: September 5, 2008 4:19 PM EDT
LAST UPDATED: September 5, 2008 5:31 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

After several years out of the spotlight, America’s original sweetheart, Meg Ryan, is back in a starring role alongside Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing in “The Women.” The film explores the friendships and relationships of a group of ladies, so it seemed only fitting that Meg shared some of her own relationship with her adopted daughter Daisy with Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell.

“It is a great experience,” Meg told Nancy about raising Daisy, whom she adopted from China in 2007. “That is a powerful thing — a little three-year-old girl. If you could just turn that into a pump spray! It stops the room, it stops an argument. It’s just the sweetest — the power of that sweetness [is] something. [It] is just delicious.”

But her little one isn’t just blessed with calming and soothing abilities, she has bookish smarts too.

“She’s a great brain too, that kid. And she is in charge, very in charge,” Meg said.

Meg’s “The Women” hits the big screen on September 12, and while she is happy to be back on screen, she enjoyed living her life away from the spotlight for awhile. During her time away, the actress spent time with her children — Daisy, and teenage son, Jack (whose father is Dennis Quaid) — and experienced more of what life has to offer.

“I took a lot of time off to just…” she trailed off. “I have the most tremendous kids, and I really have great friends, and I have a great life… When you are famous for a long time — I’ve been doing this for a really long time, and I felt like there were some gaps in my experience I wanted to fill in and that’s what I have been doing.”