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Claire Holt Shares the Real Reason Behind Her Departure from Acting
Claire Holt has decided to set aside her acting career to focus on her fitness.
The Vampire Diaries star, who is married to Andrew Joblon, with whom she shares kids James, 6, Elle, 5, and Ford, 2, opened up what led her to take a break from acting and what has been filling her “joy bucket” since.
“I spent a lot of time trying to fit into the mold of something that I thought was hirable, desirable,” Claire exclusively told E! News during the first-ever Samsung Galaxy Wellness Tour in New York City on Dec. 9, “or what I should have been.”
Claire Holt—the actress who made her debut in the industry at the age of 16 with H2O: Just Add Water—revealed that after having a bigger family, her focus had changed.
“I had this sort of one track goal of getting where I wanted to go in my entertainment career, my acting career,” she said. “When I had kids, I realized I wanted to be as present as I could in their lives.”
Claire Holt on Motherhood, Mental Health, and Finding Fulfillment in Running
The Pretty Little Liars alum went on to say, “One of the wonders of motherhood is that you get to know yourself so well. For example, I am not willing to jeopardize my mental health or happiness for things anymore, so that is a nice thing that has come out of motherhood—a really strong sense of yourself.”
Still, Claire confessed that leaving the TV industry meant she no longer felt “intellectually and creatively fulfilled.” That is, until she stumbled upon running.
“I really found a community of people who shared the same values and were just so supportive of each other and I made so many friends in the running world,” the 2025 TSC New York City Marathon finisher said. “I cannot tell you how I became so happy when I saw other people reaching their goals and thus, I got even more love and joy in my bucket.”
Claire Holt on Balancing Wellness, Tech, and Parenthood
Claire, in her new partnership with Samsung Health and Galaxy Wearables, refers to the brand’s Watch8 and S25 Edge as the duo that kept her grounded while she was able to balance wellness and recovery along with her parenting duties.
The 37-year-old went on to say, “A parent will never cease to tell you that their children are the biggest joy of their lives, but they are also incredibly tiring.” “Every choice that you make is a big deal for this person and if you are not careful, you can lose yourself completely. The most important thing in the world is being able to be there for them as the best version of yourself and that is what wellness comes first, that is what sleep comes first, that is what meditation comes first and all of the things that help us to relieve stress are involved here,” she concluded.
Claire is not the only one who decided to take a break from the attention of the media to concentrate on other things. You may discover other stars who have chosen to quit Hollywood by continuing to read the article.
Ellen DeGeneres
After 19 seasons, the host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which was her eponymous talk show, came to an end in 2022 following allegations of a toxic work environment that led an internal investigation, several executive firings, and a backlash from the public.
Ellen staged her final comeback with her standup special For Your Approval, which premiered on Netflix in September 2024. In the course of promotion for that special, she confided that she would be totally disappearing from Hollywood.
“This is the last time you’re going to see me,” she told a crowd during her Ellen’s Last Stand…Up tour, as reported by SFGate. “After my Netflix special, I’m out.”
Shortly after July 2025 when the talk show host confirmed to broadcaster Richard Bacon that following Donald Trump’s reelection in November 2024, Portia de Rossi and Ellen have moved to England, Ellen and her wife have been living in the UK.
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Tyra Banks
Why did the ANTM host move down under? To not lose her ice cream line.
“Well, I have this ice cream company, SMiZE and Dream,” Tyra told Jenna & Friends on April 2025. “But we have been more what we call B2B, which means that our products are for an airplane and a cruise where the customers are not directly us. I have been going to Australia a lot because we were doing a lot of our ice cream in a big facility there with our recipes. And I just could not help but keep falling in love with it every time I went back and went back.”
She was not only satisfied with her stay but also confident that it was a good market for her business.
“Which three countries do you think consume the most ice cream?” she added. “United States, New Zealand, and Australia.”
Therefore, the supermodel relocated to Australia with her son York (his dad is her ex Erik Asla) and boyfriend Louis Bélanger-Martin, saying, “Australia has been a dream come true for me and my family.”
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Eva Longoria
Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria might have left Wisteria Lane a few years ago, but she has recently found a new place to live in real life.
“I had my whole adult life here,” Eva told Marie Claire in November 2024 when talking about her departure from Los Angeles. “But even before [the pandemic], it was already changing. The vibe was different. And then Covid came, and it really pushed it to the next level. Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes, I am not saying that I want to s–t on California—it just feels like this chapter of my life is over now.”
Therefore the actress, her husband José Bastón, and their son Santiago have been alternating their residences between Mexico and Spain for the last couple of years.
Eva Longoria Said Her Relocation Was Related to Her Career and Not Politics
“I’m very lucky,” she explained. “While I get to go away and take a break, most Americans cannot. They will be left in this dystopian country. My anxiety and my sadness are with them.”
Nevertheless, Eva stated that her relocating was not a result of President Trump’s reelection.
“I didn’t get out of there because of the political environment,” the Flamin’ Hot director revealed on The View: Behind the Table podcast in November 2024. “It was only me that my work took me there. After Land of Women—filming six months in Catalonia, then four months in Mexico for Searching for Mexico, and then back to Spain. I’ve been there for years now. So I don’t like that it’s being politicized.”
After her move, Eva has been going on with her work as usual. She’s recently been involved in Only Murders in the Building and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip.
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Richard Gere
Richard Gere has left the glitzy life of Hollywood behind for Spain.
On the November 2024 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Richard talked about his wife, Alejandra Silva, a native of Galicia: “My wife is Spanish and she gave me about seven years here,” he said. “So we are going to spend some years in Madrid.”
He also shared how thrilled he is with the move being their sons’ growing up in a different environment, Alexander and James.
“Our children are bilingual,” Richard (who is also the father of an adult son, Homer, with ex Carey Lowell) said, “so they will thrive there.” And thrive they have.
“In fact, you are witnessing us at our peak,” The Agency: Central Intelligence star told Elle España in January 2025. “We could not be happier than we are now.”
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Christina Milian
She is a singer, Christina, who is living in Paris from AM to PM.
“My husband is French, and we’ve been together for over seven or eight years,” Christina, who is married to singer Matt Pokora, said on a November 2024 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show. “And for the last three or four years we were going back and forth every six months.”
They, however, chose to say official au revoir to the U.S. so that her kids—Violet, the daughter of Christina and The-Dream, and Isaiah and Kenna, sons of Matt—could get their education in France.
“They’re going to school in Paris,” she added. “I was like, ‘What could be a better opportunity than that?'”
Life, thus, seems to be lovely for the family.
“My kids are happy there,” the Dexter: Original Sin actress told E! in December 2024. “They know French. We go to the park. I have an active lifestyle which is really nice during the day. Then at night time, I do my work because I work hours ahead. It’s a nice, healthy balance for me.”
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay has had enough of the rumors being made up about her leaving Los Angeles without giving any reasons.
Therefore, she did not only clear the air but also reminisced about her busy schedule and partying in the 2000s.
“I feel like some of [my work] got overshadowed by paparazzi and all that kind of stuff when I was younger, and that’s kind of annoying,” The Parent Trap alum told Bustle in March 2024. “I wish that part didn’t happen. I feel like that kind of took on a life of its own. So that’s why I wanted to disappear. I was like, ‘Unless there’s no story here, they’re not going to focus on just my work.'”
Lindsay did not confine herself to one place but moved from Los Angeles to London and then to Dubai (while at the same time, opening beach clubs in Greece). But, she had a different reason for wanting to live away from the spotlight.
Lindsay Lohan on Finding Love after Leaving L.A., and Still Working in Hollywood
“I was like, ‘What if I never fall in love? What if this never happens?'”, the actress of Mean Girls, stressed additionally. “Then it was only by taking time for myself that all those doors opened and the ‘yeses’ came—the things I wanted to say ‘yes’ to’.”
Anyway, Lindsay did manage to find love with Bader Shammas, the two becoming husband and wife in 2022 and son Luai arriving the year after.
Although they are still living in Dubai, the actress of Freaky Friday is not completely out of the Hollywood industry as she has been appearing in films like Our Little Secret, Irish Wish and Freakier Friday.
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Josh Hartnett
Josh made a point to leave Hollywood after reflecting on himself.
“Hollywood isn’t just a location; it’s like a state of mind,” the Black Mirror actor said to People in July 2024. “If you are with people who are always talking about the movie business, then your life will be very one note. And I have never wanted that.”
He didn’t want that, he wanted more.
“I’ve always wanted to be around … people who are generally doing lots of other things that would take my mind off of my work and I would have to grow in different directions,” Josh explained further. “For me, that is the flavor of life.”
Therefore, the Black Hawk Down actor, his wife Tamsin Egerton and their four children left for the countryside of Hampshire in England.
“Time goes fast,” he told The Guardian in July 2024. “With four children, you have a lot to do. In a way, less is happening. But more of the important things are happening.”
Nevertheless, Josh has remained quite active and featured in Verity, Fight or Flight and Trap.
Jesse Eisenberg
Maybe the last time you looked at your social network was a long time ago and you have no idea that Jesse is not living in L.A.
“I’ve been living in Indiana for the last ten years, off and on,” the A Real Pain actor told CBS News Sunday Morning in February 2025. “That’s where I really like it. I’m not a person who wants to put myself in an industry that just seems to be kind of unstable.”
So, as he is an Oscar nominee, he still lives a pretty regular life with his wife Anna Strout and son Banner.
“I’m not doing social media and I’m not a person who is always on the phone with people from the industry,” Jesse also said. “Therefore, my life seems to be quite separate. My wife is a teacher. My child hardly watches movies. So, I’m not like deeply involved in the world of constantly trying to figure out my own position in an industry.”
Eliza Dushku Palandjian
After being a part of the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 2000’s Bring It On, Eliza in September 2024 disclosed that she has obtained a certification in psychedelic-assisted therapy and is advancing her studies as a mental health professional.
“I had the opportunity to make a different choice and take a different path in my life, which was more healing-focused and ultimately, I could help heal others,” she shared with Boston Magazine. “If I were to think of it, I would not be doing it right if I didn’t now communicate the change, the calm, and the zeal that I have. It is just absolutely so obviously my real calling, my real purpose, without a doubt.”
Rosie O’Donnell
The Flintstones star disclosed that she relocated with her youngest son Clay to Ireland in January 2025 and is currently in the process of obtaining her Irish citizenship as her grandparents were born in Ireland. However, Rosie pointed out the recent political changes as her reason for abandoning the US but didn’t completely close the door to returning there someday.
“I miss my other kids,” she stated in a video on TikTok. “I miss my friends. I miss a lot of things from life at home and I’m trying to find a home here in this lovely country. And when it will be safe for all citizens to have equal rights in America, that will be the time that we think about coming back.”
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly, the star of Ant-Man and the Wasp, announced that she will be taking a break from acting for an indefinite period after 20 years of being in the industry.
“I can’t help but be so joyous and content with life today as I am living out my dream,” Evangeline wrote on her Instagram in June 2024. “I am so thankful for my blessings. It can be a little bit scary stepping away from what looks like the most logical thing (riches and fame) but, when you step into your dharma, the fear is replaced by joy of accomplishment.”
However, she is not really closing the door, saying “Maybe I’ll be back in Hollywood some day, but, at the moment, this is where I need to be.”
Ian Somerhalder
After the Netflix series V-Wars in 2019, the Vampire Diaries alum has not gone for a new role with a bite. Rather, he has gone for a fight against climate change which happens to be his major passion project: by restoring the world’s soil.
“I kind of left acting behind for more than four years to raise my kids, build my companies and get these films off the ground,” Ian — who with his wife Nikki Reed has two children — told E! News in November 2023, while talking about the 2020 documentary Kiss the Ground and its sequel Common Ground, both about regenerative farming.
He pointed out that, “I will be a rancher and creating legacy brands whether it is my bourbon or my health and wellness company and the regenerative agriculture and healthy soil management practices that I am following and our family is following. That’s where my life was going. So when people say, ‘Why do you care?’ That’s why I care. Because that’s who I am, that’s what I’m going to become,” he said.
Jennette McCurdy
In February 2021, iCarly alum Jennette McCurdy revealed on her podcast Empty Inside to Anna Faris that she had quit acting a long time ago and is now only focused on writing, directing, and podcasting.
McCurdy, whose 2022 memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died chronicled her ordeals, revealed that she was overwhelmed with deep shame and even hatred toward her past roles. She referred to her acting career, which was from 13 to 21 years old, as “cheesy” and “embarrassing,” and pointed out that at 15 she was already feeling empty and ashamed of her Nickelodeon shows.
However, McCurdy strongly suggested that she might still consider coming back to acting. She told E! News in October 2022 that the process of writing her book gave her the idea of returning someday, possibly by writing and starring in her own projects where she could act without feeling emotionally weighed down by her past.
Meghan Markle
It was almost like it couldn’t have been any other way when Meghan Markle left Hollywood. Why stay in Tinseltown when you could marry Prince Harry, focus on philanthropic projects that truly matter, and also be allowed to wear the Queen’s quite impressive collection of tiaras?
Meghan followed the steps of Grace Kelly who left Hollywood to go to Monaco and thus, left her home in Toronto and her hit show Suits to become part of the royal family. After their exit from royal duties and relocation to Montecito, California, Meghan is slowly but surely returning to the entertainment industry through their multi-year production deal with Netflix.
The Duchess of Sussex is the 2022 docuseries Harry and Meghan and the 2025 lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, both available on the platform. Along with launching numerous podcasts, she has also started her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
Cameron Diaz
Her last film, Annie, in 2014 marked the end of a reset for Cameron Diaz, after more than 40 films in a row of her debut in The Mask in 1994.
“I just decided that I wanted different things out of my life,” she told friend Gwyneth Paltrow, explaining that years of nonstop filmmaking left little room for anything else. “When you are shooting a film…they have you. You are there 12 hours a day for months and you don’t have time for anything else.”
She turned away from acting and indulged in other interests—publishing wellness books (The Body Book in 2013 and The Longevity Book in 2016) and starting a family with husband Benji Madden. In 2019, she told InStyle, “I don’t miss performing. At the moment, I am really into wellness and all that.”
However, she was convinced to return eventually. Jamie Foxx joked to E! News about her decision to be part of the 2025 Netflix film Back in Action, “We just begged and pleaded on my knees, like, ‘Just give the people one more again.’”
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Terrence Howard
After Terrence Howard’s five-year run on Empire, he assured that there would not be a return. When Extra interviewed him before the sixth and final season of the show in 2019, he said, “Oh, I am quitting acting. I am done with the pretense. ”
In fact, he made a brief return for a handful of projects but while promoting his Peacock series The Best Man: The Final Chapters in 2022, the Oscar nominee once more announced his departure. “I have reached the point where I have given the very best of me as an actor,” he told ET. “Now I am simply a spectator of new talents coming up, and I do not want to be an impersonation of myself.”
In spite of those remarks, Howard has kept on making movies and shows. He has been involved with the TV series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist and Netflix’s Shirley, and has some other projects lined up.
Jack Gleeson
Following the death of King Joffrey, a character of Game of Thrones which was pretty much notorious for the purple-faced exit in 2014, 21-year-old Jack Gleeson at that time, said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he was quitting acting. “I’ve been acting since I was 8 years old,” he said. “I just stopped getting so much fun out of it.”
He revealed that the change of his feeling only came after acting was no longer a hobby he did with his friends, but it became his full-time career. “Now there is the prospect of doing it for a living… When you make a living from something, it changes your relationship with it. It’s not like I hate it, it’s just not what I want to do.”
Gleeson made a comeback in 2020 with BBC’s Out of Her Mind after a six-year break. He has been in films like Rebecca’s Boyfriend and In the Land of Saints and Sinners, and TV series such as Safe Harbor and The Famous Five since then.
Phoebe Cates
After being made an ’80s icon by Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Phoebe Cates turned her attention to family life. When she married actor Kevin Kline in 1989, the couple decided to take turns working so that one parent would always be home with their children, Owen and Greta (musician Frankie Cosmos), Kline told Playboy.
However, he added, at any time which was Phoebe’s “turn” to be taking roles, she would decide to stay home with the kids. Except for a brief cameo in friend Jennifer Jason Leigh’s 2001 indie film The Anniversary Party, Cates has been mostly away from the acting scene and is now more of a local to her NYC store Blue Tree where she spends most of her time.
Rick Moranis
During the peak of the popularity of Ghostbusters and Honey, I…, Rick Moranis decided to quit his filmmaking career in the early 1990s following the death of his wife due to breast cancer in 1991. He made a choice to concentrate on raising their children, Rachel and Mitchell, instead of leaving his home.
He hasn’t been in a live-action film since 1997 and also refused a brief appearance in Paul Feig’s 2016 Ghostbusters continuation. However, he has always been a great cultural icon, which was pointed out by the public reaction when he was physically attacked while walking in New York City in 2020.
There is a good news for the fans to celebrate now: Moranis will be back with a big-screen return with Josh Gad in Disney’s new reboot Shrunk.
Leelee Sobieski
The next of kin fashion designer Adam Kimmel in 2010 of the Never Been Kissed star Leelee Sobieski indicated that she was probably finished with Hollywood. “Ninety percent of acting roles involve so much sexual stuff with other people, and I don’t want to do that,” she said to Vogue. “It’s such a strange fire to play with… if you’re going to walk through fire, there has to be something incredible on the other side.”
Her decision was firm after the birth of the couple’s son Martin, alongside daughter Louisanna, in 2014. “I don’t do movie stuff anymore. I am totally an outsider! I… am just a mom and an outsider,” she told Us Weekly in 2016, while explaining that she supports Kimmel’s business and does painting on the side. “I am just focused on my kids. I think that’s mainly why I stopped.”
Daniel Day-Lewis
After an extraordinary career that garnered him three Academy Awards and the status of one of the greatest actors of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis decided to leave the art. After his sixth Oscar nomination for what was announced as his last film, 2017’s Phantom Thread, his representative communicated via a statement that he “will no longer be working as an actor,” also saying that he was “immensely grateful” to collaborators and audiences and that it was a very personal decision with no further details to be given.
However, retirement did not really hold. In October 2024, Focus Features made it known that Day-Lewis would be back in the cinema with Anemone, a film he co-wrote with his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, who will also be directing it.
Bridgit Mendler
Bridgit Mendler, a former Disney Channel star “Good Luck Charlie,” decided to move away from the glamor of Hollywood very quietly in 2018 and went straight to the university. She began a master’s degree at MIT and later got her PhD there and also signed up at Harvard Law School.
By the way of her studies, she also established the space-tech startup company, Northwood Space, which is creating the earth stations for the satellites to be able to send and receive data from space. In February 2023 she took over the position of CEO of the company.
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