Celebrities by the handful have decided life in California—and specifically Los Angeles—is no longer the place they wish to call home for themselves or their families after Democrat policies changed the once glorious city to a place wallowing in high taxes, skyrocketing crime rates, and more.
Stars like Katy Perry, Matthew McConaughey, and even podcaster Joe Rogan, all have one thing in common as their reason for leaving Hollywood: It seems Los Angeles is no longer the place they want to raise their kids. Leftist policies have allowed for increased homelessness in the city, a place where criminals feel emboldened following reduced sentencing and high taxes along with an increased cost of living.
It can’t go unmentioned that many of these decisions happened during the pandemic, when L.A. was one of the last cities to lift restrictions after locking down the city and schools for more than a year.
Here are some actors, actresses, comedians, podcasters and even a rapper who opted to move to places like Texas, Utah, Florida, Kentucky—and even some who are just leaving the United States all together for places like Australia to improve the quality of life for themselves and their family.
Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne
Legendary British rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne have called L.A. home for more than 20 years. It’s primarily where they raised their three children together. However, the couple recently announced they will be moving back to the United Kingdom. He also shares three children with his ex-wife Thelma Riley.
“We are leaving L.A. We are a bit sad,” the 73-year-old rockstar told UK Mirror. “But the tax is getting too much. I am sad because I really, really like staying and living there.”
“If they do the taxes better then I may come back,” he added. “I do not know.”
“I am taking my recording studio with me,” the Black Sabbath hitmaker continued. “I am going to build a barn there and make my own studio at Welders. I will still be making music and my band will come over.”
As noted in the piece, the federal tax rate is 28% and for those that live in the Golden State they have to pay an additional 13% state tax on top.
Matthew McConaughey
“Interstellar” star Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves made headlines recently after they left their Malibu home in Southern California for Texas, and say it has everything to do with being a place that “embodies” their “belief system” and where they want to raise their three kids.
“It’s been great,” the Brazilian model and designer Alves shared. “It really embodies our belief system, especially the ones I grew up with, like going to church every Sunday, saying ‘yes ma’am’ or ‘no, sir.'”
“I grew up saying those things coming from a family of farmers,” she added. “For me, being from Brazil and then coming to Texas, I discovered a lot of similarities in terms of what families practice here, especially going to church on Sundays, and being very into the outdoors. It’s been a great transition.”
“We lived in Malibu for many years and having the paparazzi outside our door every day — every single day — when that becomes your normal, you don’t realize how much that’s actually affecting the things you do until you actually leave and get out of it,” the superstar actor’s wife continued. “The kids get to have a private way of growing up. So from that perspective, it was very important.”
Katy Perry
Superstar singer Katy Perry, who recently gave birth to her and husband actor Orlando Bloom’s 1-year-old daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, announced that life in Kentucky is nothing like Hollywood.
“I’m like, living in Kentucky, and I have for almost a month now,” the 37-year-old singer shared. “And that’s quite an amazing experience. Because it reminds you that Hollywood is not America.
“You need to remember that,” she added. “Because I think you can understand people better. Yeah, right. It’s nice to get outside of what you know to be normal and your reality. Yeah, I mean they’re living in a bubble of sorts. We’re living in a bubble. Our bubbles are completely opposite. But they’re — it’s interesting.”
James Van Der Beek
Actor James Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly moved their family out of Los Angeles during the pandemic and haven’t looked back, saying it was the best decision for them and their five kids to move to a 36-acre property in Austin, Texas, reported the “Today Show” in October 2020.
“We were living on this tiny little lot with a tiny backyard,” Van Der Beek told TODAY Parents. “He [8-year-old son Joshua] seemed to be like an animal in a cage that was too small.”
“And… we’ve landed. In the last ten months, we’ve had two late-term pregnancy losses, each of which put [Kimberly] in the hospital, we spent Christmas break thinking she had a tumor (the doctor was wrong, thank god), I was prematurely booted off a reality dancing show I was favored to win in front of the whole world, and my mom died,” the “Dawson Creek” star wrote on his Instagram at the time.
“And a shut-down,” he added. “All of that led to some drastic changes in our lives, and dreams, and priorities… and landed us here. Overflowing with profound gratitude today.”
“We’re so happy right now,” Van Der Beek also shared with the Parents outlet. “It’s been really good for all of us.”
Chris Hemsworth
Movie stars Chris Hemsworth and his wife actress Elsa Pataky decided to leave Hollywood years ago for a life in Byron Bay, Australia, where they raise their three children and recently explained why.
“It’s a whole new experience,” Pataky told The Sydney Morning Herald. “We are loving being in the city [Sydney for a film role] and the kids will go to school here. I can dress down as much as I do in Byron Bay – we hope to get back there on the weekends. Byron has been beautiful. We made the right decision in 2014 to leave L.A. and come to Australia – it’s been great for the kids to be in nature, enjoy animals and go horse riding.”
Joe Rogan
Podcast host Joe Rogan announced in the middle of the pandemic that he and his family were leaving L.A. and heading to Texas in July 2020 so that he and his wife Jessica Ditzel could raise their two kids with “a little bit more freedom.” And anyone who listens to his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” on a regular basis, knows he has no regrets.
At the time, Rogan told CEO of Spartan and Death Race Joe De Sena he was leaving to live somewhere “in the center of the country, somewhere it’s easier to travel to both places, and somewhere where you have a little bit more freedom.”
“When you look at the traffic, when you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that’s accelerated radically over the last six, seven, ten years, I think there’s too many people here,” he added. “I think it’s not tenable. I don’t think it’s manageable. I think every mayor does a s*** job of doing it, because I don’t think anybody could do a great job of it. I think there’s certain things you’re gonna have to deal with when you have a population of whatever the f*** L.A. is, it’s like 20 million plus people.”
Sophie Turner & Joe Jonas
“Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner and singer Joe Jonas tied the knot in 2019 and a year later the couple welcomed a daughter, Willa Jones. The superstar couple bought their L.A. mansion in 2019 and sold it two years later in 2021, People magazine reported. The actress recently shared how much she and her husband love raising their daughter in Florida. She didn’t specify the reason for leaving, but it definitely sounds like they decided Florida was a better place for their family on the whole.
“We’re very lucky to live in Miami,” Turner shared recently with Elle magazine. “We have good weather and live by the water. We try to keep it as chill as possible and just cherish those times, because we don’t get them very often. We travel around so much.”
“‘I’m very protective of the life we’ve built,” she added. “Every time Joe and I do a red carpet together, we make sure it’s for the right reason and makes sense for our careers. You never want to market yourself as a celebrity couple. It’s not that cool.”
Post Malone
Rapper Post Malone might not have any kids, but he too decided living in L.A. was no longer for him and escaped his Beverly Hills mansion to live in Utah in 2019, Billboard magazine noted.
“People wanted me to stay in L.A. — that’s where the work gets done — but I was fed up,” the 26-year-old superstar shared. “There’s always something to do, and someone always wants something from ya — and I didn’t want to go crazy.”
His father, Rich Post, called the move “a big sigh of relief for the parental figures,” while the rapper’s co-manager Dre London, said it was “the best thing for him — he can have a life.”