10 Celebrities Who Chose Family Over Career

Cameron Diaz once said that she was not going to have a family and children just because they were expected of her. Then she got married, welcomed her first baby at the age of 47, and pretty much retired from acting. Other big stars, like Celine Dion and Freddie Prinze Jr., also chose to be at home with their families instead of being on stage or the silver screen.

We at Bright Side feel touched that these celebrities decided to leave or work around their high-paying jobs to focus on their loved ones instead.

1. Cameron Diaz

After her last movie, Annie, in 2014, Cameron Diaz got married and has been enjoying her retirement ever since. In 2020, she gave birth to her first daughter, Raddix, and said that she cannot imagine returning to the world of moviemaking while being a mother. “I love being a mother. It’s the best, best, best part of my life. I’m so lucky to get to do it with Benji,” she said.

2. Demi Moore

Amid her divorce from Bruce Willis and her mother’s death after a battle with cancer, Demi Moore took a break from Hollywood to focus on raising her daughters. In her book, Inside Out, she said that being a mother felt totally natural, and it’s one of the few things she can confidently say she was naturally good at.

3. Jennifer Garner

When a user commented on her festive Instagram post sarcastically with: “What do you call a movie star who makes no movies?” Jennifer Garner gave the perfect response: “A mom!” She had been taking roles in much smaller doses than she used to now that she’s wrestling with 3 kids. Now, as her children get older, she is back to prioritizing her career while co-parenting with her ex-husband, Ben Affleck.

4. Rick Moranis

The actor who was popular in the ’90s thanks to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Ghostbusters, and The Flintstones stepped away from Hollywood to raise his 2 children after his wife passed away due to cancer. Being a single parent, he found that it was too difficult to manage raising his kids and traveling to make movies. So he took a little break, but it became a longer break, and then he realized that he didn’t really miss Hollywood.

5. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. were big stars back in the late ’90s and early 2000s. They met on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer and co-starred in Scooby-Doo movies. Since the births of their children, Sarah has taken it easy with film and TV roles, and Freddie hasn’t appeared on the big screen since 2008. “I love being a full-time father. To remove myself from that equation would not be a good thing. I’m basically retired,” he said.

6. Julia Roberts

Since her marriage to Danny Moder in 2002, family comes first for Julia Roberts. After giving birth to a pair of twins and a son, she began to select roles around her children’s schedules. Instead of pursuing roles, she was just seeing what would come to her. “I’m happy at home and really fulfilled, so for me to go out and tell a story, it has to be something I feel really passionate about,” she said.

7. Chris O’Donnell

A teen heartthrob back in the day, Chris O’Donnell, who acted in Scent of a Woman, The Three Musketeers, and Batman & Robin, decided to put the brakes on his career, despite being offered huge roles. He was at the height of his fame but couldn’t imagine not marrying his wife. Today, he is juggling between being a dad to 5 kids and appearing as a regular on NCIS: Los Angeles.

8. Jessica Biel

Known for her roles in 7th Heaven, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Blade: Trinity, Jessica Biel has become quite the household name. These days, she’s busy being a wife to Justin Timberlake and a mother to their 2 kids. She said that when babies come around, your schedule is no longer your own or even that important anymore. Biel also added that her life now revolves around her little ones.

9. Dave Chappelle

The comedian walked away from a $50 million-dollar contract when he quit his wildly successful Chappelle’s Show in 2005. “I never stopped being on stage. What I did was step off of the main stage. Because those lights were hot, and I was trying to do other things with my life,” he explained. “That kind of attention wouldn’t have been conducive to raising a family,” said the husband and father of 3.

10. Celine Dion

The famous singer put her career on hold from 2000 to 2002 to take care of her husband, René Angélil, when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. In 2014, she again took a hiatus from her career by canceling all performances to focus on her children and her ailing husband who eventually passed away in 2016. She said, “I want to devote every ounce of my strength and energy to my husband’s healing, and to do so, it’s important for me to dedicate this time to him and to our children.”

Do you know any other stars who chose family over fame? Would you have done the same thing if you were them?