Tom Hanks turned down “When Harry Met Sally” because he was happily divorced and couldn’t relate.
Hanks, 66, and Meg Ryan, 61, almost had a rom-com trifecta after starring in 1993’s “Sleepless in Seattle” and 1998’s “You’ve Got Mail,” both written and directed by Nora Ephron.
But Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson, 66, revealed that the “Forrest Gump” star declined the offer to act alongside Ryan in 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally” — also written by Ephron — because he couldn’t relate to the character of Harry Burns being depressed post-divorce.
“People probably don’t know this, but Tom was offered ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ and he turned it down because he was going through a divorce, and he was very happy to be not married,” Hank’s current wife said on the “” podcast.
“And so he could not understand that a person going through a divorce would have anything other than just like, ‘I’m so happy.’ But I loved that script,” Wilson continued.
Hanks and his first wife, Samantha Le��wes, got married in 1978 when Hanks was 21 ye♋ars old and eventually divorced in 1987.
Hanks and Wilson married in 1988 after meeting on the set of “Volunteers.” Lewes died of bone cancer in 2002.
“When Harry Met Sally” director Rob Reiner considered many actors for the role of Harry, including Albert Brooks, Richard Dreyfuss and Michael Keaton, before ultimately landing on Billy Crystal.
