How faith helped Dyan Cannon overcome Hollywood struggles and breakdown

Dyan Cannon has tried everything, but it is her deep faith in God that has given her lasting peace in Hollywood.

The actress is the co-host of a new podcast, “God’s Table in Hollywood” Which features religious conversations about finding purpose. The 88-year-old told Fox News Digital that, looking back, she struggled to find meaning in her life before becoming a proud “God’s Girl.”

“My main quest was to understand why I was here, to understand who I really am,” she said. “Not necessarily to fit in, not necessarily to stand out. But to understand. And in understanding, there was freedom for me, and that’s what we’re trying to talk about on the podcast.”

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Cary Grant and his wife, actress Dian Cannon, 29, at the Savoy Hotel in London, date unknown. Cannon is now the co-host of the “God’s Table Hollywood” podcast. (PA Images via Getty Images)

“Is it always easy? No. Life is not easy,” she said. “So how do we deal with that? How do we get over that? Well, I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried drugs. I’ve tried men. I’ve tried pills. I’ve tried everything. But it was like a bandage that wouldn’t stick when I started sweating. So, I had to find a platform, a credo, a sounding board, something to stand on and base my thinking on. Something that didn’t change.”

“Faith helped me She continued, “With my love life. I expected a man to make me happy. Can you believe it? I thought that was his job, to make me happy. It’s… impossible. Many things have radically changed in my life because of the way I’ve learned to rethink it.”

Dian Cannon and Cary Grant married in 1965. The couple divorced in 1968. (Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Oscar nominee He was married twice, the first time to Cary Grant. Their age gap was more than 30 years — he was 62, and she was 28 when they said “I do” in 1965. They welcomed a daughter, Jennifer Grant, in 1966, the late actor’s only child. The marriage became tempestuous and ended in 1968.

Watch: Dyan Cannon talks candidly about faith and true love in God

After the couple separated, Grant married his fifth wife in 1981 – a union that lasted until his death in 1986.

January’s marriage to producer Stanley Wimberg lasted from 1985 to 1991.

Dyan Cannon, who has spoken openly about her faith, told Fox News Digital that she lost some friends because of it along the way. (Andres Moret Urdambilita)

“When I say I am a girl of God, it means that through all the years of searching and all the years of trying, it has led me to understand that there is only one God who loves everyone the same way,” she explained. “I actually did something called ‘God’s Party’ on CBS for 13 years just out of love and gratitude for all the good in my life that still exists in my life.”

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Cary Grant and Dian Cannon at the 1967 World Series. The couple divorced in 1968. (Getty Images)

“There is only one word for me that represents God, and that is love,” she said. “This is the capital L. Not the little that comes and goes, but the big love that stays the same.”

However, it wasn’t easy for Cannon to speak openly about her faith.

Dyan Cannon, filmed in 1969, received an Academy Award nomination in 1970 for “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.” (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

“In the past, I lost friends because of it,” she admitted. “So-called friends. They weren’t really friends. And maybe they did some work because of it. But I guess City of Angels – Los Angeles “You better decide who the angels are.”

Dyan Cannon hosted “God’s Party,” a religious celebration on the CBS studio lot in Los Angeles. (Alexis Waldeck/Condé Nast via Getty Images)

“We have an episode about how we met God,” she said. “My story begins when I met him on the set of Universal. I was about 22 and his name was Cary Grant, because that was like God to me at the time. I was trying to find my way in the world.”

“I don’t think wisdom necessarily comes with age,” she said. “I don’t think you have to grow up to understand life. I think wisdom comes with striving. And I was searching for the truth.”

Before they married, Grant convinced Cannon to try LSD, a psychedelic drug Los Angeles Times reported in 2011. As their marriage began to fall apart, Cannon took the narcotic drug with him several times. According to several books and documentaries about Grant, the actor credited LSD for helping him process his childhood traumas.

“He thought it was a gateway to God,” she told the outlet. “He thought it would help him find peace.”

Cary Grant and his then-wife, Dian Cannon, walk down a street in Bristol, England, circa 1965. The actor is said to have first turned to LSD in the late 1950s to address his traumatic past. (Express / Archive Photos / Getty Images)

“I knew I shouldn’t have done it, but I did it to please him and save our marriage,” she told the outlet at the time about using the drug. But I kept saying, “How will this help me find God?” How will this help you find God?’ And he didn’t force me to take it, so I said, ‘Yes.’”

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Dyan Cannon (right) is seen with her daughter Jennifer Grant at the premiere of “Archie” at the Paley Museum on December 4, 2023 in New York City. (Dominique Bendel/Getty Images)

The outlet noted this After their divorceCannon tried to ease her pain with pills and marijuana. She had a nervous breakdown and ended up, as she said, “in the Gemini house.”

“I was locked up,” she told the outlet. “Most of my close friends didn’t know that.”

Dyan Cannon attends “Archie” at the Paley Museum on December 04, 2023 in New York City. (Dominique Bendel/Getty Images)

Faith has always been a part of Cannon’s life. Her mother was Jewish and her father was Christian. She noted that her relationship with God over the years has served as an anchor through life’s ups and downs.

Dian Cannon is seen here signing copies of her memoir “Dear Carrie” at Vroman Library on September 30, 2011, in Pasadena, California. (Jonathan Lipson/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

“It’s not always easy to practice faith,” she told Fox News Digital. “But it is a platform for me to stand on when the world changes and we are tested.”

When asked what advice she would give to her younger self — one who had just met Grant and had no idea how her life would turn out from that relationship — she laughed and said: “Get out of the relationship.”

Dyan Cannon told Fox News Digital that she doesn’t see herself getting married again. (Andres Moret Urdambilita)

“We had great times together,” she said. “[But] If I had been able to go back and live differently, I would have. “I’m not as patient with myself as I used to be.”

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Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon welcomed their daughter Jennifer Grant on February 26, 1966. (Getty Images)

Cannon previously told Fox News Digital that she is like that these days Embrace individual life.

“It took me a long time to learn how to be happy on my own because I really thought I was incomplete without a man in my life,” she said.

“God’s Table Hollywood,” a podcast co-hosted by Dyan Cannon, features “honest and honest dialogue about life, purpose, and the power of God’s grace.” (Andres Moret Urdambilita)

“I was brought up with the idea that you get married and have kids and that’s what makes life happy. In my case, that wasn’t the case. But I’ve learned how to be happy on my own. There’s a lot of freedom in that because you’re not going to settle for a set of broken dishes. You’re not with someone just because you’re lonely. You’re not with someone just because you’re afraid to be alone.”

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“I absolutely am Open for datingCannon continued, “There’s no one in my life right now that I’m dating, but I have two rescue puppies, and they’re great company, and I have great friends. I think the right person has to come along.” [that will be] A real blessing to have.”

While Cannon is open to finding love again, she can’t imagine herself saying “I do” again.

Actress Dian Cannon during an interview with host Johnny Carson on August 28, 1991. (Joseph del Valle/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

“I had to give up my career through marriage,” she said. “And looking back, I don’t think I would do it again. I wouldn’t trade one for the other. But I think it’s possible that you can handle both when you’re with someone who truly supports you and loves you.”

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Dyan Cannon attends the 10th Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on April 6, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

“I think we should all be true to… our highest sense of right, and not listen so much to what the world says we should do. … When I’m on board with that, I’m fine. When I’m against it, I’m pretty messed up. … I don’t know if I want to get married again, but I’d love to be able to sit down with someone and hold their hands and talk about the important things in life. I like that idea.”