15 Stars Who Ditched Hollywood to Give Their Kids a Normal Life (PHOTOS)
Raising kids is tough, and I imagine that doing it in the spotlight of Hollywood makes it even harder. Some celebs seem to manage it OK (looking at you, Brad and Angie), but others opt to leave the glare of Tinseltown to offer their kids a more "normal" upbringing outside of Los Angeles.
Here are 15 stars who left Hollywood to raise their children.
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Kyra Sedgwick
The gorgeous Kyra Sedgwick famously took time off from acting to raise her son and daughter with hubby Kevin Bacon in New York. While talking about empty-nest syndrome in 2012, she said, "[Your children] are the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about before falling asleep ... And suddenly, you're fired!"
Shania Twain
The Grammy-winner moved to Switzerland with her husband Robert 'Mutt' Lange to raise their son Eja ... until he left her for her best friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud. It worked out OK though, as she stayed in the country and wed Marie-Anne's ex Frédéric in 2011.
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Michael Schoeffling
Jake Ryan from 16 Candles retired in 1991 at just 31 years old. Michael Schoeffling and his wife Valerie reportedly live in Pennsylvania, where they raised their son and daughter.
Bruce Willis & Demi Moore
This famous couple had kids at the heights of their careers, but Bruce Willis and Demi Moore decided to move to Hailey, Idaho, for a quieter life to raise their three daughters.
Julia Roberts
The Oscar winner has said that despite being famous, she's just a normal mom to her three children with husband Danny Moder. He and Julia Roberts raise their kiddos away from the spotlight in New Mexico, where they are usually busy shuttling them from one sports practice to another.
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Phoebe Cates
Kevin Kline's wife Phoebe Cates decided to leave acting to focus on their two children in New York. Kline said in a 1998 interview, "We have agreed to alternate so that we're never working at the same time ... [But] whenever it's been her slot to work, Phoebe has chosen to stay with the children."
Amanda Peterson
The '80s teen sensation last acted in 1994, before moving to Colorado to raise her kids with hubby David Hartley. Sadly, we lost Amanda Peterson earlier this month. She was just 43, and reportedly had been suffering some health issues.
Rick Moranis
After he lost his wife to cancer, Rick Moranis vanished from Hollywood to raise their kids. He later said, "The decision in my case to become a stay-at-home-Dad, which people do all the time, I guess wouldn’t have meant as much to people if I had had a very simple kind of make-a-living existence and decided I needed to spend more time at home. Nobody would pay attention to it, but because I came from celebrity and fame and what was the peak of a career, that was intriguing to people. To me, it wasn’t that. I didn't have anything to do with that. It was work, and it was just time to make an adjustment."
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Candace Cameron Bure
The Fuller House actress left the spotlight to raise her kids with her NHL star hubby Valeri Bure in Florida. Candace Cameron Bure also made waves in 2014 for saying that she had no problem being a submissive wife.
John Hughes
According to John Hughes's secret pen pal (yes, really), the famed director walked away from Hollywood in 1995 until his death in 2009 because he was worried about the impact it was having on his sons.
Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel
Baby Silas may only be a few months old, but Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have decided to raise him mainly in Montana, at their estate in Big Sky.
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Elizabeth Hurley
British beauty Elizabeth Hurley took several years off from acting to focus on raising her son Damian on a large farm in England.
Cary Grant
He may not have been the best husband, but Cary Grant was a very devoted dad, according to his only child, Jennifer Grant. She said, "Every daughter looks up to her father but the fact is we were incredibly close. He retired at 60, when I was born, so I had him for the first 20 years of my life. Although I lived with my mother, she'd be away making a film for three months, say, and I'd be at my father's house. I saw him so much more than the child of divorced parents might expect."
Vera Farmiga
Bates Motel star Vera Farmiga lives with her hubby Renn Hawkey and their two children on a farm in upstate New York, along with two goats and lots of other animals. She said that scripts she doesn't like end up as fertilizer!
Robin Wright
The House of Cards actress and her hubby at the time, Sean Penn, made the decision to move to northern California for their two kids. Robin Wright said, "I didn't want to raise my kids in this weird, sycophantic society. If you have celebrity parents, it's not a good recipe for the kids, or anyone at any age."