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Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Lifestyle
Iris Goldsztajn

'When Harry Met Sally' Titular Characters Almost Didn't End Up Together

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal pose for the movie "When Harry Met Sally" circa 1989.

When Harry Met Sally director Rob Reiner has just revealed that the cult 1989 rom-com could have been much less of a feel-good flick if things had gone differently in his personal life.

Speaking to CNN's Chris Wallace about his illustrious career, Reiner admitted that Meg Ryan's Sally and Billy Crystal's Harry almost didn't end up together—which would obviously have been devastating for romance fiends like myself. And the chief reason for this? Reiner feeling dejected in his own love life.

"The original ending of the film that we had was that Harry and Sally didn't get together, because I had been married for 10 years, I'd been single for 10 years, and I couldn't figure out how I was ever gonna be with anybody, and that gave birth to When Harry Met Sally," the actor and filmmaker told Wallace.

"And I hadn't met anybody, and so it was gonna be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking, and then walking away from each other. I met my wife Michele—who I've been married to for now 35 years—I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending."

Reiner, clearly a hopeless romantic, was married to Penny Marshall between 1971 and 1981, and has been married to his current wife Michele Singer Reiner since 1989—which you might recognize as the year the iconic movie was released.

Other high points in Reiner's career include directing This Is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride, and a bunch of guest-starring roles in the likes of New Girl, 30 Rock, and Hannah Montana.

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