Michael Parkinson’s infamous Meg Ryan interview resurfaces

He was the king of the celebrity interview - but this disastrous TV chat with Meg Ryan went so badly she ordered him to “wrap it up.”

Michael Parkinson and Meg Ryan.

TV legend Sir Michael Parkinson was renowned as the king of the chat show interview – and he did it perfectly time after time, putting A-listers at ease and getting them to spill their secrets in front of international audiences.

But one disastrously mismatched interview will go down in history as his most infamous encounter: A 2003 chat with actress Meg Ryan.

The interview came as rom-com queen Ryan was promoting her latest film, the dark erotic thriller In The Cut. Released after her divorce from husband Dennis Quaid, the film garnered much attention for featuring the first nude scenes of Ryan’s career.

The TV interview got increasingly hostile as it went on.

The interview was tense from the start, as Parkinson asked a visibly uncomfortable Ryan about the nude scenes and about the drastic career change from starring in films like You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle.

As the interview progressed, an increasingly prickly Ryan started to give one-word answers to Parkinson’s by now rather hostile questions.

Noting that Ryan seemed uncomfortable in the spotlight, Parky told her: “You are a movie star. By choice. So you’ve got a problem … And it seems that it’s one that’s not going to be resolved on this show either.”

Parkinson then asked Ryan about having trained as a journalist before she was an actor, and asked her what she, with her journalistic training, would do to help the interview along.

“Wrap it up,” she shot back, and he did, ending the show there and then.

Parkinson addressed the instantly infamous interview in an interview withRadio Times in 2021, saying that if he saw Ryan again he would tell her: “I’m sorry. But you must understand that you played a part in it too.”

“I wish I hadn’t lost my temper with Meg Ryan,” he continued.

“I wish I’d dealt with it in a more courteous manner. I was quite obviously angry with her and it’s not my business to be angry towards the guests. I came across as kind of pompous and I could have done better.”

Ryan eventually told Parky to ‘wrap it up.”

She later said he felt like a “disapproving father.”

Ryan spoke out against Parkinson in an interview with Marie Claire three years after the episode was filmed.

“I don’t even know the man. That guy was like some disapproving father! It’s crazy. I don’t know what he is to you guys, but he’s a nut. I felt like he was berating me for being naked in the movie,” she said.

“He said something like: ‘You should go back to doing what you were doing’. And I thought, are you like a disapproving dad right now? I’m not even related to you. Back off, buddy. I was so offended by him.”

The interview was to promote In The Cut, a very different role for Ryan.

She continued: “I realised it’s not like an American talk show where it’s seven minutes and then there’s a commercial break. I had to do 20 minutes straight with this guy, and I could either walk off – which wouldn’t be good – or try to disagree with him very respectfully.”

So perhaps we shouldn’t expect to see any words from Ryan among the celebs paying tribute to Parkinson, who has died at the age of 88 following a private illness.

Elton John paid tribute on Instagram today, calling Parkinson “A TV legend who was one of the greats.”

David Beckham shared a photo of he and wife Victoria being interviewed on Parkinson’s chat show with the message: “We say goodbye to the best … Waking up to the sad news of Michael Parkinson passing I was so lucky to not just be interviewed by Michael but to be able to spend precious time talking about football and family our 2 passions.”

British actor and comedian Stephen Fry said on Instagram: “Having grown up watching him interview greats, my first appearance on Parkinson was impossibly thrilling for me.

“The genius of Parky was that unlike most people (and most of his guests, me included) he was always 100% himself. On camera and off. ‘Authentic’ is the word I suppose.”

Comedian Eddie Izzard said Parkinson was the “king of the intelligent interview”.