Mark Wahlberg, Julia Roberts and more stars who have moved out of Hollywood
Mark Wahlberg has joined the growing list of celebrities who have moved away from Hollywood.
During an appearance on “The Talk” last week, the 51-year-old actor revealed that he and his family have moved to Nevada, and he explained why they decided to relocate.
“I want to be able to work from home. I moved to California many years ago to pursue acting, and I’ve only made a couple of movies in the entire time that I was there,” he said.
“So, to be able to give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams, whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer, this made a lot more sense for us.”
While many have attributed the recent exodus to the COVID-19 pandemic, the phenomenon of stars choosing to move their families out of Hollywood is nothing new.
Relationship expert and psychologist Carmen Harra shared her opinion on why some stars have decided that raising their children elsewhere is in their families’ best interest.
“Some celebrities have chosen to move out of Hollywood to raise their families because they want an overall healthier environment for their children,” Harra told Fox News Digital.
She continued, “Hollywood is a place that’s full of opportunity, especially if you’re an actor or artist, but it isn’t necessarily the healthiest atmosphere for a family.”
“In terms of raising children, Hollywood puts a lot of pressure on kids: children might ‘grow up too quickly’ because of the fast-paced lifestyle, or they might be influenced to take part in unhealthy activities, like drinking, smoking or doing drugs.”
“Hollywood is a glamorous city, but it’s also superficial, vain and full of temptations—not the ideal environment in which to thrive as a tight-knit and whole family. Many celebrities have realized this and have decided to leave the city behind for the sake of their family’s well-being,” she concluded.
Another motivating factor behind the departures is the constant attention of paparazzi and lack of privacy that stars are subject to in Hollywood, celebrity love coach and “Reality of Love” host Nicole Moore said.
“Marriage can be a huge stressor, so things like paparazzi or fans coming up to ask for an autograph while a couple is out for dinner can really take a toll,” she told Fox News Digital.
“As glamorous as Hollywood can be, it’s also a very stressful environment for most stars,” Moore added. “Imagine having an argument with your partner, like every couple does at times, only paparazzi catches you, and the next day photos of your fight are splashed across the tabloids.
“Most people simply couldn’t handle it, and stars are no exception.”
Here’s a look at nine other celebrities who have decided to raise their families outside Hollywood — and what they have said about their reasons for leaving.
Julia Roberts and her husband, Danny Moder, live on a sprawling ranch in Taos, New Mexico, with their three children.
The couple, who recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, married at the $2.5 million 32-acre ranch near the community of Arroyo Seco on Independence Day in July 2002.
Roberts originally purchased the ranch in the 1990s and used it as a second home. However, the notoriously private couple made the ranch their primary residence shortly after the “Erin Brockovitch” star welcomed twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, 17, in order to raise their children out of the spotlight. The two also share son Henry, 15.
Roberts told Oprah Winfrey in 2003 that the ranch was where she felt “most at home.”
She added, “Around here, I come and go like it’s nothing. Los Angeles is such a town of show business, and I’m a terrible celebrity. I find it difficult—it’s the beast that must be fed.”
In a 2018 interview with Winfrey for Harper’s Bazaar, Roberts told the talk show icon that she doesn’t think her children “will ever have a true sense” of her fame.
“I think I told you once when they were starting to figure it out, it was like, ‘You’re famous?’ And I said, ‘I think a lot of people might have seen the movie that I’m in or might know who I am.’ Maybe an hour goes by. [Then they ask,] ‘Are you more famous than Taylor Swift?'”
“Desperate Housewives” star James Denton and his wife, Erin, moved to Minnesota a month after his hit ABC show concluded its eight-season run in 2012.
The pair share son Sheppard, 19 and daughter Malin, 17. Sheppard co-starred with his father in the upcoming Hallmark movie, “Perfect Harmony.”
Denton recently spoke to Fox News Digital about working with his son on the film and explained why leaving Los Angeles was best for his family.
“We moved up here when ‘Desperate Housewives’ ended, because that’s where his mom grew up. So he had grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. And he and his sister were able to go to really good schools here that didn’t cost an arm and a leg like they do in LA,” Denton shared.
However, the actor told Fox News Digital that he is planning to move back to Los Angeles now that his children are almost out of high school, and that he is supportive of his son pursuing an acting career.
“Avengers” star Josh Brolin’s wife Kathryn revealed in September 2020 that they had moved to her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
In an Instagram post, Kathryn shared that the family were embarking on a “new adventure” after moving into their “perfect” home in Atlanta.
Kathryn wrote that the family had “decided to skip out on our beloved Cali and move across the country,” but went on to say that they “will be back.”
“It’s truly a beautiful, bizarre feeling moving back to my hometown,” Kathryn wrote in another Instagram post. “Not sure how long we will be here, but all I know is it feels so good to be home. Feels so good to have family stopping by on their way somewhere and hanging on our front porch.”
The couple welcomed their second daughter, Chapel Grace, two months later on Christmas Day. They are also parents to three-year-old daughter Westlyn Reign.
Texas native Matthew McConaughey announced that he and his wife, Camila Alves, were moving back to his home state in 2012. The couple live in Austin with their sons Levi, 14, and Livingston, 9, and daughter, Vida, 12.
In April, Alves explained why she and McConaughey prefer raising their children in Texas instead of Hollywood.
The model told Fox News Digital, ‘It really embodies our belief system, especially the ones I grew up with, like going to church every Sunday, saying ’Yes, Ma’am’ or ‘No, Sir.’ I grew up saying those things, coming from a family of farmers.”
She added, “For me, being from Brazil and then coming to Texas, I discovered a lot of similarities in terms of what families practice here, especially going to church on Sundays, and being very into the outdoors. It’s been a great transition.”
“We lived in Malibu for many years and having the paparazzi outside our door every day – every single day – when that becomes your normal, you don’t realize how much that’s actually affecting the things you do until you actually leave and get out of it,” Alves continued.
“The kids get to have a private way of growing up. So from that perspective, it was very important.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban opted to buy a home in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2007, one year after they married in her home country, Australia. Urban, a New Zealand native, had moved to Nashville from Australia in 1992. Despite the couple also having bought a home in Los Angeles in 2008, they moved their family to the Music City.
During a 2016 appearance on The Jess Cagle Interview, Kidman raved about her life in Nashville with Urban and their daughters, Sunday, 14, and Faith, 11.
“That country music community is a very warm community,” Kidman said. “It’s very protective. Keith’s been a part of it for decades now. It’s his home, it’s our home.”
She added, “I’m just lucky that I fell love with a guy that lived in Nashville, because I was meant to go there. I’m very, very happy to live there.”
Kidman described her daughters as “Nashvillians,” though, she noted that they have “a lot of Sydney in them, too.”
“They have a southern drawl,” she shared, adding that their accents also had “some Aussie.”
“They have unusual mix,” she added. “They’re hybrids”.
Amanda Seyfried and her husband, Thomas Sadowski live on a farm in upstate New York with their two children and a menagerie of animals, including horses, cows and goats.
In 2021, “The Dropout” star told the New York Times that she began looking for homes outside of Hollywood when she was 22 as she wanted to set a boundary between her career and home life.
She purchased the Catskills farmhouse in 2014, and her family moved there full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seyfried told the outlet that the time that she spent quarantining on the farm “solidified my need to be out of the game when I’m not working, to be in nature and to refresh.”
She added, “Everybody needs a center of gravity. Somewhere to feel safe.”
In a 2020 appearance on Molner’s Table, she said, “I live on a farm. It’s what I’ve always wanted”.
She went on to say that she felt that living on the farm had made her marriage “even stronger.”
In 2021, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner sold their Encino, California, mansion and relocated to a waterfront property in Miami, Florida. The two, who are parents to daughter Willa, 2, welcomed their second child, a baby girl, in July. The couple, who are extremely private, have not revealed the name of their second daughter.
Turner opened up about the move in an interview with Elle U.K. “I’m very protective of the life we’ve built,” the “Game of Thrones” star told the outlet in May.
She added, “We’re very lucky to live in Miami. We have good weather and live by the water. We try to keep it as chill as possible and just cherish those times, because we don’t get them very often.”
However, Turner said that she is hoping to ultimately move back to her home country, as she wants her children to have the “education and school life” that she was “so lucky” to have when she was growing up in Chesterton, Warwickshire, England.
“I miss England so much,” she said. “The people, the attitude, everything. I’m slowly dragging my husband back.”
Turner continued, “I really love living in America, but for my mental health, I have to be around my friends and my family. And also for my daughter – I would love her to get the education and school life that I was so lucky to have. England would ideally be the final destination, but [Joe] might take quite a bit of convincing!”
Though Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are one of Hollywood’s most recognizable power couples, they keep their family life far from glare of the public eye.
The pair, who are expecting their fourth child, live with their children James, 7, Inez, 6, and Betty, 3, in Pound Ridge, New York.
In 2012, the pair bought their $2.3 million home together after six months of dating. They married in September of that year.
Reynolds explained how the couple maintain their privacy despite their immense fame, in a 2015 interview with The Project.
“I think it’s always a fine line,” the “Deadpool” star said. “I’ve never been the guy stumbling out of bars at three in the morning, at least that anyone is aware of. It’s never been my thing.’
“I think it’s keeping a boundary that there’s this world that is the job, and the world that is the home,” Reynolds added.
“We don’t live in L.A. We live on a farm in New York. And we don’t lead a wild and crazy life. It’s not that hard. It’s not a big deal.”