According to a YouGov survey, 53% of Americans believe that they would enjoy being famous. But being in the public eye certainly isn’t for everyone, and it’s not conducive to every career path either. If you have big dreams of being a nurse or firefighter, there’s no need to have a huge following on social media. In fact, it might be better not to. 

Redditors have recently been discussing former stars who decided to remove themselves from the spotlight and live quiet lives following their fame. From child actors who had other ideas for their careers to celebs who decided to focus on their families, enjoy reading through and be sure to upvote the stars you had entirely forgotten about!

#1

Hayden Christensen did all the Star Wars stuff and then bought a farm outside Toronto. He’s now all about farming. 

Image credits: Raskolnikovs_Axe

#2

Rick Moranis. 

PhoneJazz:

He left Hollywood because his wife died, and he wanted to raise his kids.

Image credits: XeniaDweller

#3

The kid who played Charlie in the original Willy Wonka. He went on to be a veterinarian.

Image credits: noseymimi

#4

Cameron Diaz.

Raising her kid with one of the Good Charlotte dudes and enjoying life. She made some awesome movies and great friendships. Content to live her life pretty quietly now.

Image credits: justReading271000

#5

Enya lives in a tiny Irish village where she’s just one of the locals.

JuryBorn:

She lives in Killiney. It is an affluent suburb in Dublin. 2 members of U2 also live there. She is quite reclusive and lives in a castle.

dasuberblonde:

Enya became a hermit and lives in a castle collecting cats aka living the dream

Image credits: chahlie

#6

Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, refused to license his work out and retired when the comics were huge at 37. Walked away from potentially hundreds of millions because he thought it would jeopardize the integrity of his art through commercializing it. I think he’s refused any public interview and the only publicly available picture of him is from over 30 years ago.

Lives in a modest neighborhood in Cleveland.

Image credits: sroop1

#7

Pam Anderson left the US, and moved back to her sleepy home town on Vancouver Island.

_Amarantos:

She seems really at peace now too.

Image credits: ButternutMutt

#8

Danny Lloyd, the kid from The Shining is a professor at a community college in Kentucky.

Image credits: lifeuncommon

#9

Newt from Aliens (Carrie Henn) is a teacher.

Image credits: raresaturn

#10

President Jimmy Carter. He could have parlayed his Pres gig into big bucks speaking and getting book deals. Instead, he just built houses for lower income people. Never wavered from his core beliefs. As a former Navy Submariner, I always admired how he always kept the values of our Top Secret oath we took as submariners.

#11

Greta Garbo was the biggest movie star in the world throughout the ‘30s. She made her last movie in 1941, at the age of 36.

She then spent the next 50 years living alone in a New York apartment. She was known for taking daily walks around Manhattan, and “Garbo-spotting” was a popular New York activity in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Image credits: Arkeolog

#12

Erik Estrada, who played officer Francis Llewellyn “Ponch” Poncherello on “CHiPs” became a real-life police officer in Saint Anthony, Idaho.

Image credits: vieniaida

#13

Nikki Reed. Decided to farm with Ian Somerhalder.

Image credits: exlongh0rn

#14

Queen’s John Deacon. Lives quietly wherever. Has minimal contact with Queen, though they do run ideas by him as a courtesy.

TwistyHeretic2:

Deacon lives quietly with his wife Veronica, for whom he wrote his first major hit “You’re My Best Friend” when they were newlyweds and expecting their first baby (1975). They’ll be celebrating their 49th anniversary next month. They still live in the house they bought back when the money started coming in. They had six children (5 boys and 1 girl), and now who-knows-how-many grandchildren.

Image credits: alfienoakes

#15

Bridgett Fonda, loved her then she disappeared. Last year paps found her living a normal life not looking she used too. They were brutal. F**k the paps.

Image credits: SassyAF519

#16

Nikki Blonsky from Hairspray. She was selling shoes and working as a hairstylist last I read.

#17

It was Rick Astley until we relentless trolled our teachers and friends with the Rick roll circa 2006 ish.

Wolfwoods_Sister:

He said he really hated the music fame machine and just didn’t want to go any further with it.

Image credits: Competitive_Log_4111

#18

Andre 3000 from OutKast. He was arguably the greatest rapper in the world and gave up the fame to live a quiet private life. The guy literally does his laundry at a laundromat to stay grounded and so he can play his flute in the alley while his clothes dry.

Image credits: InternationalTap33

#19

Chunk (Jeff Cohen) from The Goonies became a lawyer.

dfze:

Yup. Apparently he’s a lawyer that represents actors and tries to make sure they always negotiate for fair agreements.

Image credits: bionicjoe

#20

The girl who played Harper on Wizards of Waverly Place is a Registered Nurse now.

Image credits: Username_Here5

#21

I would say Jonathan Taylor Thomas. He was SO BIG in the 90’s. Now he’s mostly if not entirely behind the scenes.

Image credits: Fin745

#22

Yall remember Rake Yohn from Jack*ss TV? He’s a chemist. He actually had his degree before the show.

Image credits: anon

#23

Phyllis Smith from the Office was actually part of the casting team for the show originally. She moved out of LA several yrs ago, lives a completely normal life in Missouri now.

#24

Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi run a tennis academy in Las Vegas for underprivileged kids.

#25

Tonya Harding. She now owns a landscaping business and has said she’s really happy with it

Image credits: threadbarefemur

#26

Bobby Sherman was a huge teen heartthrob in the 70s, and then at the height of his career, he left it all behind to become a paramedic.

Follow your heart, I guess, even if others find it weird.

#27

Leelee Sobieski.

kirinmay:

Think she just went family life mom and take care of kids and what not. She was in a lot of things so had money. Also she was in a tv series for a few years.

MrsBeauregardless:

I believe she is a painter, now. Still an artist.

Image credits: leftclicksq2

#28

Kate Bush.

Now_Wait-4-Last_Year:

Still quietly making music out of sight like she always did. Apparently Running Up That Hill being featured on Stranger Things made her several million dollars to add to all her other revenue streams.

Image credits: roc-aki

#29

Two of the more hyped US Winter Olympians in my lifetime, Eric Heiden and Debi Thomas, became doctors.

#30

Jake Ryan on 16 candles.

SeatownSpy:

I think he’s a wood worker now. His daughter Scarlett is a stunner and works in modeling.

Image credits: Harlow08

#31

Pheobe Cates.

FyreWyvern:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 2 Gremlins movies, a few other things… then retired more than 20 years ago.

Married to Kevin Kline since 1989 and running a little shop in NYC.

Image credits: canuckbuck2020

#32

I went bouldering yesterday and the girl who played Katie Bell in Harry Potter was working the reception. Found her IG and she is a rock climber so it’s probably more out of interest than anything else.

Image credits: NoTurkeyTWYJYFM

#33

Molly Ringwald seems to lead a pretty normal life. I live in Tacoma, WA and she apparently has some friends or family out here because she’ll visit from time to time— you’ll just go to a restaurant and see Molly Ringwald very casually grabbing a bite and you’re just like, “oh hey— that’s pretty cool” and that’s that.

#34

My choice would be Shelley Duvall. She was once one of the most successful actors and now you wouldn’t recognize her if she came up to you and asked for directions.

NoodlesAreAwesome:

I thought she had some serious untreated mental health issues and that was part of it? She also claimed Robin Williams wasn’t dead but he shape shifted. I hope she’s doing much better now.

#35

Mike Vitar. He played Benny in The Sandlot. He became a firefighter with LAFD.

Image credits: McJazzHands80

#36

Bill Withers passed away in 2020, but he’s the ultimate example of being on top and just dropping out and living his life.

girlomfire17:

I love Bill. He never fully quit his blue collar job, even when fully immersed in making music because he never trusted the people. And recognized his fame as fleeting. He was great. Probably in my top 5 songwriters

Image credits: theisntist

#37

Mara Wilson.

ravenpotter3:

She also voices The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home in the podcast Welcome To NightVale. She is the faceless old woman who secretly lives in all of our homes and also once ran for the night vale mayor position and lost to a five headed dragon Hiram McDaniels.

#38

That guy who sang “How do I talk to an angel,” Jamie Walters. I think he was on 90210 and then was on a spinoff. I believe he’s a firefighter now.

Image credits: pixel_ate_it

#39

Staci Keanan. Was on two big sitcoms in the 80s and 90s, charming, beautiful. Had amazing prospects. Then she dropped out of the business, went to law school, now she’s a district attorney.

Image credits: cugamer

#40

Ken Griffey Jr. (baseball) is worth over $100M, and in his retired years, he picked up photography. He’s an on-field photographer for the Philadelphia Eagles, where his father lives. Dude is humble and loves what he does.

#41

Jessica Alba, sort of. She runs a business for moms to help with their babies. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s something like a diaper company or something. Anywho, she no longer makes movies anymore.

#42

Surprised no one mentioned Daniel Day-Lewis. The man was on the top of his field for many years, but the toll each movie had on him made him choose to go live a normal life with his family.

Anything this guy did was immediatly praised by the Academy. He really went out on top.

#43

Charlie Korsmo from Hook (1991) and What About Bob?

He graduated with a degree in Physics from MIT, worked at the EPA, got his Juris Doctor from Yale, became a lawyer and is now a corporate law and finance professor. And something something about a nomination to something by Obama.

#44

Not huge, but the drummer from Sum 41. He is now a realtor in Palm Springs.

#45

Lauren Tewes (Julie from Love Boat) became a cheesemonger in Seattle.

#46

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. I loved her in all of her huge movies in the late 80s and early 90s. (The Abyss, Scarface, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, color of money(Oscar Nominated) And then I never heard from her again.

Edit: Looks like she didn’t do much in the 90s. Did The Perfect Storm in 2000 and then had 2-3 multi episode runs on tv series. And she’s as beautiful today as she’s ever been. I’ve always had a huge crush on her and apparently still very much do. ?

#47

Gerardo had a big hit 30 years ago with “Rico Sauve”. He’s now a pastor in a church in KY.

#48

The kid whom played Jack in Hook is a law professor. He was an adjunct at my schools while I was there but I did not attend his class.

#49

I don’t know how many remember the band Savage Garden from the 90s, but one of the two guys who made up the band decided out of the blue, at the height of their fame, that it wasn’t for him, and he quit. He just walked away from the whole thing. I think he works as a contractor or something now.

#50

Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver became a California Hwy Patrolman.

#51

Any of the Brady Kids… I think one of them works construction!

#52

The girl that played Catwoman in Gotham (Camren Bicondova). She has a smoothie business now I think.

#53

Steve Guttenberg.

Deitaphobia:

I read he got super involved in The Academy of Arts and Sciences non-Oscar stuff and now does film restoration.

#54

Erik Per Sullivan aka Dewey from Malcolm In The Middle. He’s pretty much left acting entirely and has no social media accounts. I like to think he’s living a peaceful normal life.

The_Good_Count:

I’ve heard from a friend in Ohio that, at least a few years ago, he was working at his parent’s Mexican restaraunt somewhere around Cleveland.

Take it with a grain of salt, if someone tells me this is wrong I get to tell my friend he’s full of sh*t.

#55

He was never huge but Beans from Even Stevens now works at my local mall.

#56

Michael Schoeffling.

tumorgirl:

Yeah he’s like a carpenter now or something. Wasn’t a great actor but he’s so gorgeous I don’t know if anyone would really notice ?. He’ll always be my dream boyfriend, sigh ❤️❤️❤️

#57

Chad Muska is a now a vegetable farmer a few hours outside of Cleveland.

#58

Julia Stiles. I feel like she was huge then sorta went away. I just looked her up and it seems like done some stuff here and there but nothing huge or notable unfortunately. I don’t know why, I thought she was pretty good.

#59

Tom from MySpace ?

Illustrious_Town_163:

I respect him a lot compared to all the other major internet company guys. Wasn’t trying to change the world or farm data or move us into some technocratic future, just made a cool thing, sold it and does what he wants now.

#60

She wasn’t hugely famous but Kat Von D moved to my hometown and even got baptized at the same church that I was baptized at. It’s a small town with not much diversity so when she moved there it was kind of a big deal for everyone. Funny thing is the mansion she purchased was haunted and we used to host haunted houses for our basketball team fundraisers and I could tell stories from each year that we did it stuff that happened. The last part is irrelevant just a fun random fact lol.

#61

Maybe Liv Tyler? You never hear about her anymore. She lives in London, just being a regular mom and raising her kids.

#62

Armie Hammer. He was selling Timeshares in the Caymans last I heard.