Quaid: Split From Ryan Was 'Like Death'

July 19, 2001 -- Dennis Quaid says he now has a "good" relationship with ex-wife Meg Ryan, but that their split was "like death."

In a new interview with W magazine (the same publication Ryan chose to address the breakup of their marriage), Quaid says he experienced "shock … depression … [and] anger" after Ryan's affair with co-star Russell Crowe became tabloid fodder.

Says the 47-year-old Frequency star, "When you break up, your whole identity is shattered. That's why it is like death. It is death. Next to losing a child, the breakup of a marriage is the hardest thing to go through," says the actor.

Now that their divorce has gone through, Ryan and Quaid are friendly, he says. This week, the pair was granted joint custody of son Jack, who is 9.

"Meg and I still talk. Almost every day. Our relationship is good," he said. "We were together for 13 years, we have a child together. She knows me like nobody else. Why not? … You know, Meg and I are always going to be together — we'll always be connected. That's just the way it is. If anything, we can be fuller people. Maybe we've become more of ourselves."

Quaid, who's been linked to Andie MacDowell, his co-star in the TV movie Dinner With Friends, is now dating Shanna Moaklar, a former Miss USA and the ex-girlfriend of boxer Oscar De La Hoya, with whom she has a daughter.

Meanwhile, Ryan has been frequently spotted with ex-flame Russell Crowe and "old friend" Griffin Dunne, according to the New York tabs.