Countless people with hopes of making it in the entertainment industry move to Hollywood to make their dreams come true, but while many have tried to make it in Hollywood and then failed, there are also those who have made it, and left.
1. Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl is the most recent celeb to speak out about her Hollywood experience, and why she left the glitz and the glam for a simple life in Utah. The The Ugly Truth actress opened up in the September issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, saying that she left Hollywood to concentrate on her family.
Katherine Heigl: I certainly don’t see myself as being difficult >>
“I would come home angry and frustrated that I’d missed everything with my kid that day. I didn’t get to wake her up from her nap or do bath time or bedtime. I’d have to sneak into her room and kiss her when she was sleeping, hoping not to wake her up,” Heigl told the publication.
“I felt like my priorities were messed up. I was putting so much time and energy into just my work, but I was raised [to believe] that family comes first,” she added.
2. Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp decided to leave Hollywood and move to France with his then-partner Vanessa Paradis. The actor moved for several reasons, one of them being U.S. politics.
“America is dumb, it’s like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive… Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out,” he told the German magazine Stern during a 2003 interview.
3. Dylan and Cole Sprouse
Disney stars Dylan and Cole Sprouse started their careers early, and they thrived on the Disney shows The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Suite Life on Deck. However, after being in showbiz since the age of 1, the twins decided it was time to leave Hollywood in 2011, and opted for a college experience instead. Both are now attending NYU.
4. Cary Grant
Cary Grant, one of Old Hollywood’s hottest stars, decided to pack up and leave Hollywood to focus on his family. The North by Northwest actor moved to provide his daughter, Jennifer Grant, with a non-Hollywood and more sheltered upbringing. He was desperate for her not to become an actress, a career move that she only pursued seven years after his death.
5. Demi Moore and Bruce Willis
Demi Moore and Bruce Willis decided to leave Los Angeles, California, in 1996 and move to Hailey, Idaho, with their three daughters. The reason for their move was to concentrate on their family and avoid the constant media scrutiny, although the Indecent Proposal actress returned to Hollywood after her divorce in 2000.
6. Madonna
Madonna chose to leave behind the city of dreams for love. The pop sensation married English screenwriter, film director and producer Guy Ritchie in 2000, and decided to move to London with him.
“I moved here for love. No other reason. I never thought in a million years I’d live in London,” she revealed during an interview, Digital Spy reports. However, after her divorce in 2008, she eventually decided to move back to NYC.
7. Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t have all that many friends in Hollywood (especially because from the time she moved away, she’s done nothing but bad-mouth the U.S.). But she moved back to an opulent new home in a private Hollywood Hills estate last year, after more than a decade away.
The Iron Man 3 actress was London-based (thanks to her estranged husband Chris Martin, who is an Englishman) and even referred to Britain as her “adopted home,” but she apparently missed her mother, Blythe Danner, and brother so much that she decided to move back.
Leave a Comment