Josh Hartnett opens up about his exodus from Los Angeles at the height of his stardom more than two decades ago.
The 46-year-old Minnesota native was just 19 when he arrived in Los Angeles and quickly began landing roles, with his film debut coming as Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) son in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.
As his career soared with roles in Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, 40 Days and 40 Nights and others, he returned to his home state in the early 2000s.
Hartnett, who now resides in England with his wife Tamsin Egerton, spoke about his departure from Los Angeles while promoting his new film Trap with The Guardian.
While she said there were many factors that led to her departure, a series of harassment incidents paved the way for the move.
Josh Hartnett opens up about his exodus from Los Angeles at the height of his stardom more than two decades ago.
Hartnett, who now resides in England with his wife Tamsin Egerton, spoke about his departure from Los Angeles while promoting his new film Trap with The Guardian.
Hartnett, who now resides in England with his wife Tamsin Egerton, spoke about his departure from Los Angeles while promoting his new film Trap with The Guardian.
Asked if there was a particular moment that triggered the return home, he admitted: “The attention people were paying to me at that time was almost unhealthy.”
Asked to elaborate, Hartnett insisted: ‘Well, look, I don’t want to read too much into this. There were incidents. People showed up at my house. People stalked me.
Another scary incident was “a guy who showed up at one of my premieres with a gun and said he was my father. He ended up in prison.”
Hartnett was 27 when he decided to return to Minnesota 19 years ago, adding: ‘There were a lot of things. It was a strange time and I wasn’t going to be of any use.
She admitted that at the time, “I just didn’t want my life to be consumed by my work. At the time, there was this idea that you just had to give up on everything.”
He added: “And you saw what happened to some people back then. They were wiped out. I didn’t want that for myself.”
The actor and his family now live permanently in the Hampshire countryside, UK, revealing how much he prefers this small town life.
He said that when he lived in New York or Los Angeles, “people only want to talk about your career,” but in his hometown, “nobody cares.”
Asked if there was a particular moment that triggered the return home, he admitted: “The attention people were giving me at that time was almost unhealthy.”
Asked to elaborate, Hartnett insisted: “Well, look, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. There were incidents. People showed up at my house. People stalked me.”
Trap, in which he plays a father who takes his daughter to a concert that is secretly a trap set for him as he lives a double life as a serial killer, hits theaters August 2.
She is in the UK on a marriage visa, which means she can go out and work 180 days a year on a film and return home.
“This is all new to me. I never expected it. And time flies. With four kids, there’s a lot to do,” Hartnett says of her family.
“In some ways, there’s less going on, but there’s more important things going on. My oldest daughter is now eight and a half years old; to me, that’s like it’s happened in the last two years. So I’m trying to take advantage of everything I can,” she admits.
Trap, in which he plays a father who takes his daughter to a concert that is secretly a trap set for him as he lives a double life as a serial killer, hits theaters August 2.