Stars Who Stepped Away From Hollywood: From Cameron Diaz to Michael Douglas and More

Bruce Willis retired from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia.

In March 2022, the Die Hard actor’s family announced he was stepping away “from the career that has meant so much to him” as he had been experiencing health issues. They confirmed the condition was “impacting his cognitive abilities.”

“This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support,” the Willis family continued. “We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that.”

Nearly a year later, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, revealed his aphasia diagnosis had progressed and was refined to frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” she added in the February 2023 post.

There are currently no treatments for the degenerative brain disease, according to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.

After starring in 2014’s Annie, Cameron Diaz took a break from Hollywood, which was something she “just had to do.”

“It felt like the right thing for me to do to reclaim my own life and I just really didn’t care about anything else,” she told the crowd at Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit in 2024. “Nobody’s opinion, nobody’s success, no one’s offer, no one’s anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and building the life that I really wanted to have.”

During her time away from the limelight, Diaz married Benji Madden, with whom she shares two children. She also expanded her business ventures when she launched organic wine brand Avaline with Katherine Power in 2020.

She returned to acting more than a decade later, working with Jamie Foxx in the 2025 Netflix film Back in Action.

In June 2017, Daniel Day-Lewis revealed his decision to step away from Hollywood prior to the release of his last starring film, Phantom Thread, which earned him a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars.

“Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years,” his representative, Leslee Dart, said in a statement. “This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.”

But after a seven-year break, Day-Lewis made a comeback to work with his son, Ronan, on Anemone.

“And just to put the record straight, I never used the word retirement. People have happily used it on my behalf,” he told BBC News following his return. “But I felt I needed to work at something else for a while, which I did. I’m glad to be back doing this, and I’m certainly open to doing it again.”

In a 2023 interview with the Financial Times, Emma Watson admitted she “wasn’t very happy” with the acting profession, which led to her hiatus after she wrapped production on Greta Gerwig‘s Little Women adaptation in December 2018.

Amid her extended break, the Harry Potter actress said she is “maybe the happiest and healthiest” she has ever been.

“The bigger component than the actual job itself is the promotion and selling of that piece of work, this piece of art. The balance of that can get quite thrown off,” she revealed to Hollywood Authentic. “I think I’ll be honest and straightforward, and say: I do not miss selling things. I found that to be quite soul-destroying. But I do very much miss using my skill set, and I very much miss the art. I just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed.”

Evangeline Lilly announced her indefinite hiatus in June 2024 after decades in the industry.

“I am so filled with joy and contentment today as I live out my vision. Praise God, I feel so grateful for my blessings,” she shared. “Stepping away from what seems like the obvious choice (wealth and fame) can feel scary at times, but stepping into your dharma replaces the fear with fulfillment. I might return to Hollywood one day, but, for now, this is where I belong… A new season has arrived, and I AM READY…and I AM HAPPY.”

In a separate statement to Variety, the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star noted she had actually been on a hiatus “for the past three years” since working on the Marvel film.

“This time outside of the business has brought me a grounding sense of fulfillment and joy. I could return tomorrow, two years from now or never, but at the moment I am not actively pursuing any work in the industry and am not under any contractual obligations to anybody,” she continued. “I am devoting my time to my humanitarian work and my writing.”

Ian Somerhalder decided to stop acting and focus on filmmaking and other passion projects.

The Vampire Diaries actor told People, “Aug. 19 makes five years since I was professionally on camera as an actor/producer. I stepped away from that after V Wars to build these companies, launch films like Kiss the Ground, Common Ground and Ground Swell and raise my kids. I remember sitting with my management talking about this, saying, ‘Hey, this is the only thing I’ve ever known that’s ever sustained my family, and I’m walking away from it,’ at this sort of peak, could have gone and done anything, but these partnerships mean way more to me.

Somerhalder, who shares two children with his wife, Nikki Reed, noted he had reached a point where he felt “most authentic.”

“Once you reach a certain level, you’re like, ‘OK, I want to focus on family and the future of farming and food and energy and the big things,'” he continued. “I don’t need to chase awards and anything that would make me feel better about myself.”

Jennifer Lawrence ended her two-year acting hiatus with the 2021 film Don’t Look Up.

Reflecting on her break, she admitted she would have mixed feelings if her acting career ultimately ended.

“I was at peace with that possibility of that happening. [Hollywood] is a lot,” Lawrence said during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. “I think I would’ve been fine,” she added, before quipping, “Well, I mean, no — I would be really upset.”

After working with Leonardo DiCaprio in the Adam McKay-directed satire, she began starring in more projects, including Causeway, No Hard Feelings and the upcoming film Die My Love.

Two years after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Jim Carrey got back on screen to reprise his role as Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

“You can’t be definite about these things. I said I’d like to retire but I think I was talking more about power resting,” he admitted to ComicBook. “Because as soon as a good idea comes your way, or a group of people you really enjoy working with, things tend to change.”

On the other hand, the break reportedly helped him to see a new perspective on his career.

“I think whenever you step away from something — even if it’s something you love — you get a new appreciation for it. A different angle on the whole thing,” he told E! News.

While at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July, Michael Douglas said he “purposefully” took a break from Tinseltown in 2022 “because [he] realized [he] had to stop.”

“I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set,” he said, adding he was very happy to enjoy his time off.

Douglas added, “I say I’m not retired because if something special came up, I’d go back, but otherwise, I’m quite happy, just like to watch my wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) work.”

In an Instagram statement, Nelly Furtado said she was pressing pause on the hustle “for the foreseeable future and pursue some other creative and personal endeavours that [she] feel would better suit this next phase of [her] life.”

She added, “I have enjoyed my career immensely , and I still love writing music as I have always seen it as a hobby I was lucky enough to make into a career . I’ll identify as a songwriter forever.”