In this weekend’s PARADE, Vegas star Dennis Quaid spills secrets about what drew him to star in his first-ever TV series, kicking his cocaine habit, his divorce from Meg Ryan and why he loves being a dad.
On why he chose to transition to the small screen now, Dennis says: “Vegas just felt right. I’ve been looking for something to do in television for a couple of years, because what’s going on there now is like the great stuff that was happening in movies in the ’70s.”;
Speaking of the ’70s, the actor opens up to the magazine about his cocaine addiction and how it changed him. “I felt like I deserved [success] once I got off cocaine. That would be in my late 30s. Cocaine makes you paranoid and lowers your self-esteem. We all did it back in the ’70s and ’80s.”; It wasn’t all bad though, well, until it was bad. “Had a great time, so they tell me. It was fun, then it was fun with problems, then it became just problems.”;
In 2001 Dennis divorced actress Meg Ryan – the two have a son, Jack, now 20 who is also an actor nabbing his first role in The Hunger Games – and spoke out about why Hollywood marriages are so tough. “It’s hard for two actors to be together,”; he admits. “Take the travelling, for instance. It winds up being a long distance relationship all the time, because one’s working here and one’s working there, or one’s staying at home and one’s off someplace else. Your partner has to live with the best and the worst part of you, and they’re affected by it.”;
Something that affected Dennis when he was a young boy was his parents’ divorce, on which he reveals, “there were abandonment issues there, which I think I still have.”;
But Dennis has learned from his past mistakes and is still learning from his kids: “I love being a dad, and I’m good at it. Kids teach you about life, like how not to focus on yourself so much.”;
Tune-in to see Dennis in Vegas, premiering on Global September 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT!
