Amanda Seyfried on Why Moving Out of Hollywood Was “the Best Decision”
Amanda Seyfried has found the ultimate work-life balance.
While the actress traded in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood years ago for New York City, even that proved to be too much still, leading her to eventually put down roots on a farm in Upstate New York. And now with a husband and two children, she wouldn’t change a thing.
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“I moved upstate long before I had a family. Staying here was the best decision for privacy, peace and nature. It offers a more balanced life than the city does,” Seyfried recently told Forbes, adding that it is “essential for my mental health.”
While the Mama Mia star still loves her career and acting, she said having this “peaceful place to call home” allows her to better “acclimate to the faster lifestyle of the city, the high-energy of press events and life on-set.”
When she’s not working, Seyfried, who is set to star next in director Paul Feig’s adaptation of The Housemaid, now finds herself taking care of all different types of animals, in addition to an Australian Shepherd named Finn. She told Forbes that while there was a “learning curve” at first, the farm life experience has been the most “exhilarating” and gives her “so much purpose.”
The Dropout actress added that she now sees her trips to the city as fun getaways, knowing “the next day I’ll be home and even happier in my boots in the mud feeding the animals.”
It’s not uncommon for A-list celebrities to eventually trade in Hollywood life for something a bit calmer. Recently, Jason Segel shared that he moved from Los Angeles to Ojai, California, because he “realized that art is supposed to be a reflection of what you’re going through and I actually wasn’t going through much life-wise.”
The How I Met Your Mother star added, “I moved to a little country town and I started to ask myself questions like, ‘What do you actually like? What are you actually thinking about right now? Who do you want to be as a performer and an artist?’”
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