The actress was obsessed with 'The Parent Trap' when her mom brought the movie's star home.
Margaret Qualley is recalling a surreal encounter. The 28-year-old actress covers Harper's BAZAAR's October 2023 Voices Issue, and, in the accompanying interview, she remembers meeting her mom, Andie MacDowell's, new boyfriend, Dennis Quaid, amid Qualley's obsession with his movie, The Parent Trap.
Qualley begins by explaining how she wasn't enamored with Hollywood growing up, as she associated MacDowell going off to do movies with being left in her dad, Paul Qualley's, care. The pair divorced in 1999.
"I didn't love the whole movie thing when I was a kid," Qualley admits. "My mom going off to do a movie just meant she's going to leave town and go kiss some other dude and have a pretend life that I'm not involved in."
That's perhaps why Qualley developed a love for The Parent Trap, in which one-time lovers Elizabeth (Natasha Richardson) and Nick (Quaid) end the movie back in each other's arms.
"I would tell my mom how much I loved The Parent Trap and be like, 'We should watch it. It's a really smart movie. They make a lot of good decisions in that movie,'" Qualley recalls.
During that time, MacDowell left home to shoot Dinner With Friends, the 2001 film she starred in alongside Quaid.
"She comes home and she's like, 'Margaret, I know how much you love The Parent Trap …' And I was like, 'Yeah?' and waiting with bated breath, hoping my parents were getting back together," Qualley remembers. "And then in walks Dennis Quaid -- her new boyfriend. I wasn't living in Hollywood; I was living in a normal suburban town. But then I would have these 'What in the world?' moments."
Now, Qualley is focused on a love story of her own, as she recently tied the knot with Jack Antonoff.
"I am so happy that I found my person," Qualley says. "And it's real. It's amazing. It's the best feeling in the world. I'm so excited and so at ease all at once."
As for what's next for the couple, Qualley says, "It's really exciting now to be making a home and to have something to care for. I just want to do everything with Jack. One day I want kids, and I'm not there yet, and I want to keep doing movies. And that's about all I know."
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