Strange Things About Dennis Quaid And Laura Savoie's Marriage
It's hard not to love Dennis Quaid, the actor who portrayed everyone's favorite dad in Disney's "The Parent Trap" in 1998. While most younger fans probably know him best for that role, he's actually been a key player in Hollywood for a long time. According to his IMDb, Quaid first made his debut in the film "Crazy Mama" back in 1975. Since then, he's appeared in over 100 films and TV shows, including major blockbusters like "Traffic" and "The Day After Tomorrow."
What keeps Quaid in the headlines though, seems to be his romances. The "A Dog's Journey" star has had a slew of high-profile relationships with other celebrities, including actor P.J. Soles, and one of the most popular movie stars of the '80s and '90s, Meg Ryan. He also briefly dated Travis Barker's ex-wife, Shana Moakler, and had a pretty dramatic relationship with his third wife, Kimberly Buffington, even though she herself wasn't necessarily famous. These days, the interest is around Quaid's newest wife, Laura Savoie.
The couple was first linked back in 2019 and tied the knot a year later. While Savoie isn't a celebrity, fans can't help but be fascinated by the twosome, especially due to the age difference. When it comes to those who judge his relationship, Quaid told The Guardian, "Everyone comes from the perspective of their own life and so...I can't even get angry." While there are some strange aspects of their romance, those are also what makes them interesting as a couple, so let's break them down.
The significant age gap
The one thing about Dennis Quaid and Laura Savoie's marriage that gets the most attention? Why, that would be the very large age difference between them. When the two first got together in 2019, Quaid was 65 years old, while Savoie was 26. Yet the "Midway" star told People when it comes to their 39-year age gap, "It really just doesn't come up," adding, "There's just something timeless about us."
However, some are a bit wary of the age gap. Not only have they been called a "May-December" couple, but people have openly lambasted their relationship, including Quaid's ex-fiancé, actor Lea Thompson. After actor Diedrich Bader tweeted a tongue-in-cheek observation about the age difference, Thompson replied, "She was -10 when I was engaged to him." Quaid told The Guardian that the criticism "really doesn't bother us." Yet he did defend himself, saying, "I didn't go out looking for an age gap or someone really younger than me...You have no control over who you fall in love with."
For Quaid, it appears he isn't going to let what others find taboo get in the way of his happiness. He explained, "I don't fall in love easy. But I can't let what a few people think control all that." Savoie even apparently likes that her husband is older, since she told People that she "likes the wisdom that Dennis has." She explained, "We both had to go through things to be who we are now and who we are now was ready for each other."
They seemed to move fast
Dennis Quaid apparently wasted no time moving on from his former girlfriend of three years, model Santa Auzina, to his current wife, Laura Savoie. Quaid and Savoie were officially a couple by June 2019, very soon after Quaid broke up with Auzina, which was sometime earlier that year, per Page Six. Not only did Quaid and Savoie make it official rather swiftly, but Us Weekly reported that around the same time Savoie was already writing that she was in "love" with Quaid in the captions of photos she posted of them on her private Instagram.
Quaid dished that it didn't take long for him to know that Savoie was the one, telling People, "It was love at first sight." He added why it was so easy falling for the PhD student, gushing, "I just love who she is as a person," contributing that to "Her character, her intelligence, of course, her beauty. " That's probably why he proposed to Savoie in October 2019 after only a few months of dating. Quaid revealed to Extra that it happened while they were in Hawaii promoting his movie "Midway," saying, "It was kind of spontaneous. It was very much a surprise." He added, "I had the ring in my pocket... It has been kind of a month-and-a-half plan."
As for Savoie, it appears she was quite excited. Quaid recounted, "She was actually taking a selfie of us, and I put the ring in front and said, 'Will you marry me?' — and then she fell down."
They secretly eloped
Similar to the pace of their engagement, Dennis Quaid and Laura Savoie didn't hesitate with wedding planning. Quaid told ET that just weeks after his proposal, Savoie was already "looking at wedding dresses." For Quaid, he believes, "If you go past a year without getting married, then you're suspect. That's basic etiquette." However, it seems the couple eventually decided to forgo those plans and secretly elope instead in June 2020. People reports that only their pastor accompanied them at a Santa Barbara, California resort, where they were married in private. Quaid gushed, "It was beautiful," adding, "She was the most stunning bride."
The couple decided to postpone their wedding because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they did make some tweaks to their plans. They were supposed to tie the knot in Hawaii — yes, where they got engaged — and then celebrate with loved ones at some point afterwards in Nashville, per CNN.
While they did "something closer to home" instead, there were some hiccups along the way. "The Rookie" actor revealed to Extra that they ended up at their ceremony "without a [marriage] license because the riots were that weekend." He added "It was another week and a half...when we did our Zoom civil ceremony," which may have been difficult for Quaid who insisted, "We wanted traditional." However, they did manage to get a honeymoon in. Quaid revealed they were taking "a romantic car drive across America... we're going to stay everywhere you can stay."
The Parent Trap comparisons
It's no secret that one of Dennis Quaid's most beloved roles was in the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap." In the film, Quaid plays the dad of twins who try to get their parents back together even though their father is engaged to a much younger woman named Meredith Blake. Of course fans can't help but compare Quaid's real life relationship with Laura Savoie to the film since not only does Quaid himself actually have twins with ex-wife Kimberly Buffington, but Savoie is clearly much younger and even blonde like Blake.
The actor who played Meredith Blake, Elaine Hendrix, even joked about the comparison on Twitter. She posted a link to a story on Quaid and Savoie's engagement, writing, "Watch out for those twins." Fans of the movie were apparently floored with the joke, with one even tweeting, "Y'all, I screamed. Meredith Blake out here reminding Dennis she was the OJ, step aside Laura!"
When it comes to "The Parent Trap" observation, Quaid told The Guardian, "That was really a laugh...I thought it was wonderful, actually." He also seems to be in on the joke, telling People that he happened to be in Napa, California, for a music gig, where part of the film is based, when he saw Hendrix's tweet. He revealed, "[W]e went to the Staglin Ranch where we shot 'Parent Trap,' the house, and we have a picture of us in front of the house that we want to send to Elaine."
They both have a type
While many may find the relationship between Dennis Quaid and Laura Savoie odd, they both do seem to have a type when it comes to what they look for in romantic partners. Quaid specifically seems to like his ladies younger, outside of his first wife, PJ Soles, who was four years older. It appears to have started with his second wife, Meg Ryan, who was seven years his junior. He had a bigger age difference with his next wife, Kimberly Buffington, which was 17 years, and even more so with his last girlfriend, Santa Auzina, who was born 33 years after him.
As for Savoie, she's apparently not only unfazed by her 39-year age gap with her husband, but according to People, she dated older men even before Quaid. Savoie was previously linked to "Entourage" actor Jeremy Piven, who is 28 years her senior, when she was just an undergraduate at Pepperdine University.
That also means that Quaid wasn't Savoie's first celebrity romance either. While Savoie herself doesn't work in Hollywood, she seemingly has a thing for actors. Quaid revealed to People that the two were "introduced at a business event" but it's unclear what that was since Savoie worked in the accounting field. She was, however, at the time plugging away at her PhD at the University of Texas in Austin where Quaid has a home. Savoie is also a certified real estate agent and yoga teacher, per Heavy, so she can definitely hold her own with or without a famous beau.
Dennis Quaid's three first marriages imploded
Although Dennis Quaid and Laura Savoie seem happy, the "Midway" actor doesn't have the best track record when it comes to marriage. Quaid first got hitched in 1978 when he was 24 years old to actor PJ Soles. As Newsweek recounted, the two had met on the set of "Our Winning Season" only months before, but were divorced by 1983.
Quaid's marriage to actor Meg Ryan was definitely his most high-profile. The couple appeared to have the picture-perfect life, but ended up divorcing in 2001 after a decade together. Quaid later admitted that he was jealous of Ryan's success. "We met and I was the big deal," he said to ET. "I kind of did feel like I disappeared." It probably didn't help that Ryan infamously cheated on Quaid with actor Russell Crowe. However, she told InStyle, "Dennis was not faithful to me for a long time."
Then there was Quaid's third wife, Kimberly Buffington. While the real estate agent may have been a breath of fresh air since she wasn't an actor, the two reportedly had a "turbulent marriage" after tying the knot in 2004, per People. During their time together, the former couple broke up and got back together several times, before they officially divorced in 2016. Yet Quaid believes he finally got it right with Savoie, telling The Guardian, "I've been married three times and this is the final one, I know it is. I feel like I have a real partner in life."
Their approach to social media
Despite Dennis Quaid and Laura Savoie appearing to be quite smitten with each other, you wouldn't necessarily know it from their social media. The "Any Given Sunday" actor rarely posts Savoie on his Instagram, promoting his music, films and TV appearances instead. As of December 2021, the last photo Savoie appeared in was from the previous November, which is a group shot of her and Quaid with fellow musicians, plugging their tour. Savoie is also in another group photo from June 2021, but the only time Quaid posted them alone was when he shared their People magazine feature on their elopement.
Savoie, for her part, is the opposite in that she has gushed about Quaid on her Instagram and even shared photos of them kissing, according to Us Weekly. Yet what is strange is that, unlike her husband's account, her Instagram is private. However, she reportedly not only posted about her "love" for him, but also once wrote, "Never been happier."
While their social media behavior may be confusing, they definitely don't mind sharing their romance with the public, with Quaid telling People, "She's the greatest person I ever met. I love waking up and spending every day with her." Savoie apparently feels the same way since she dished that Quaid "brings so much joy to every day." So it seems there may be facets of Quaid and Savoie's marriage that some might find bizarre, but what matters most is they appear to be very happy regardless.