Josh Hartnett quietly left Hollywood a few years ago for a quieter lifestyle, prioritizing peace of mind over career.
The “Trapped” star turned down two big superhero movie roles at the height of her stardom. Shortly after landing a small role in Sofia Coppola’s 1999 cult hit “The Virgin Suicides,” Hartnett really started to break into film, starring in nine films in 2001 alone, including “Pearl Harbor” and “Black Hawk Down.”
As for the specific reasons Hartnett has stepped back from the spotlight, he said: Parents There was no clear distinction between “happy Josh and unhappy Josh.”
“At that time, the amount of attention I was getting reached an unhealthy level,” Hartnett said.
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Josh Hartnett left Hollywood due to concerns from overly-fans. (Getty Images)
When asked to clarify whose attention it had attracted, he added: “Well, I don’t want to make too much of a big deal out of it. There have been incidents. People have come to my house. People who have been stalking me.”
“There was an incident. People came to my house. They’re stalking me.”
“A man showed up to my premiere with a gun and claimed to be my father. He ended up going to prison.” Hartnett was 27 at the time.
He added: “A lot has been going on. It’s been a strange time. And I wasn’t going to be the subject of that conversation.”
Josh Hartnett rose to fame at a young age, starring in Black Hawk Down in 2001 and appearing in eight other films that same year. (Getty Images)
The Oppenheimer star currently splits his time between the UK and the US, but because he is living in the UK on a marriage visa he can only be out of the country a maximum of 180 days per year.
“A lot has happened. It’s been a strange time. And I wasn’t going to be the subject of that conversation.”
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Hartnett began dating British actress Tamsin Egerton, whom he met on set in 2012, and they secretly married in 2021.
“This is all new to me,” he said of his near-anonymous life in Hampshire, “I never expected any of this. And time flies. With four kids, there’s a lot to do. In some ways there’s less happening, but there’s more that matters.”
Hartnett and his wife, Tamsin Egerton, have four children. (Getty Images)
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He added, “My oldest daughter is 8-and-a-half now. To me, it feels like everything has happened in the last two years. So, I’m trying to soak up as much as I can.”
While Hartnett never gave up his passion for acting, he retreated from the spotlight that blinded so many: He left Los Angeles and returned to his native Minnesota to take on smaller, albeit more challenging, projects.
Hartnett has three films in production, including The Long Home, directed by James Franco. (Getty Images)
“I didn’t want my work to consume my life,” he says. “The idea was to give it all up. I saw what happened to some people back then. They were consumed by work. I didn’t want that for myself.”
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Hartnett has a number of projects in the works, including James Franco’s The Long Home, the action thriller Fight or Flight and The Last Draw of Jack Harts.
