• Denny Balmaceda is a 38-year-old fashion designer who flew from Jersey City to San Francisco.
• A woman asked to switch seats with him so she could sit next to her husband.
• Denny quickly realized her husband was Keegan-Michael Key.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Denny Balmaceda. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In February, I boarded my plane that would fly from Newark Airport in Jersey City to San Francisco. My business-class seat had been booked by a clothing brand I had been working for at the time. My seat on row 11 was a window seat with my own little nook, a treat for me, who usually flies in the economy seats.

As I settled in, neatly arranging my things in the compartment above my head and around my seat, a woman I didn’t recognize kindly asked if I would mind switching seats with her so she could sit next to her husband.

I quickly said, “Sure.” I know that in economy, this kind of question can produce mixed feelings, because if you’ve booked a window seat, you’re not going to want to switch to a middle seat. But in business class, all the seats are good, so I didn’t mind.

I hadn’t realized who her husband was

Just as I responded to her request, I looked up and saw Keegan-Michael Key. I was switching seats with his wife, so she could sit next to him. She continued, explaining she thought she had booked them to sit next to each other.

I took her seat in row 10, and she took mine in row 11.

So not only did I get to travel in business class — already a lot of fun for me — I also got to travel in front of a celebrity that I absolutely love. He’s literally one of my favourite actors.

His wife leaned over and said Key would be happy to take a photo with me. He did, and he was so nice. Throughout the flight, he was the same with everyone who came up to him — a real gentleman.

He was so nice

Every single person who came up to him got his time and never once seemed annoyed. He talked to everyone and let people take photos with him.

When his wife needed help with anything, he helped.

And as the flight came to an end, I asked if he could grab my bag, and he didn’t flinch — he was fine with it.

There was no sense that he thought he was above anyone on that plane. He was just a real person who happened to be a celebrity.

Working in the fashion industry, I know there are both celebrities who are rude and those who just have bad days. I know that sometimes, people just want to be themselves without the fame. They just want to travel on planes and not be recognized. But he didn’t fit into any of these categories.

After the flight landed and before we went our separate ways, I took a couple of photos of us together to show my wife.

It was a one-in-a-million chance that I’d switch seats with someone famous, and I was very happy and surprised to get to experience it.

• Americans are being advised to shelter in place in many Middle Eastern countries.
• The US and Israel struck Iran on Saturday.
• Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar have closed their airspaces.

Americans in many Middle Eastern countries have been advised to shelter in place after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday.

The US Department of State Consular Affairs and related embassies posted on X that US citizens in countries including Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, were advised to shelter in place until further notice.

Hours later it posted guidance for US citizens in Iraq, advising them to “exercise increased caution, limit their movements, and be prepared to shelter in place.”

“There are reports of missiles, drones, or rockets in Iraqi airspace. The security environment remains complex and can change quickly,” the US Department of State Consular Affairs wrote.

“If you are in Iraq, you should review your personal security plan and evaluate options to shelter in place or depart Iraq should the situation deteriorate,” it continued.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it had directed all US government employees and their families to shelter in place, and that Israel had closed airspace to all civilian flights.

The US Department of State Consular Affairs also warned of imminent drone and missile attacks in Bahrain.

The US Embassy in Beirut wrote that the Department of State “urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon now while commercial options remain available.”

The US Department of State Consular Affairs also noted that “out of an abundance of caution” US citizens in Pakistan should follow strong personal safety precautions, including staying aware of their surroundings, avoiding large crowds, and ensuring that their “Smart Traveler Enrollment Program” registration is updated.

Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar have closed their airspaces. A video shared on Flightradar24 showed airplanes leaving the region.

Of the approximately 3,400 flights scheduled to the region, 230 were cancelled as of 12 p.m. Central European time, while 40 due to fly on Sunday were preemptively cancelled.

Airports in the region shared travel updates online. Dubai Airports said all flights at Dubai International and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International were suspended until further notice. It advised passengers not to travel to those airports at this time, and to contact their respective airlines for updates on flights.

King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia, Hamad International Airport in Doha, and Abu Dhabi Airports gave similar advice to passengers.

In a video statement posted on social media on Saturday, President Donald Trump vowed to destroy Iran’s missile program and navy and said the objective of the strikes is to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats.”

“My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to US personnel in the region. Even so — and I do not make this statement lightly — the Iranian regime seeks to kill,” Trump said.

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” Trump continued.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

• Satellite images show an Iranian warship burning after the US and Israel’s strikes on Iran.
• The joint attacks are aimed at decimating Iran’s military, Trump said.
• Other imagery shows drone activity at an Iranian air base.

New satellite imagery shows an Iranian warship burning pierside following widespread US and Israeli airstrikes.

The imagery, collected Saturday by US spatial intelligence firm Vantor and obtained by Business Insider, shows some of the initial aftermath of the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran, a major combat operation against Tehran after the collapse of talks on nuclear weapons.

The Vantor images show a frigate burning at the Konarak naval base in southern Iran. A large billow of smoke can be seen rising from the wounded vessel.

In a close-up image, two other frigates are seen sitting nearby, appearing unscathed.

Trump said earlier in his video message announcing the US campaign, Operation Epic Fury, that the US military was “going to annihilate” the Iranian navy, as well as the country’s other military capabilities.

Trump said the goal was to ensure that Iran can “never” have a nuclear weapon. The president also urged Iranian citizens to “take control” in the aftermath of US operations.

“This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,” he said.

War analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said on Saturday that there had been unconfirmed reports of strikes on Iranian naval assets.

“An Israeli OSINT [open source intelligence] account reported strikes on the IRGC Navy frigate Jamaran,” ISW said. “There are also unverified reports of strikes on the IRGC Navy Imam Ali Navy Base in Chabahar, Sistan and Balochistan Province.”

Other images collected by Vantor show drone launch activity at two nearby airbases in Konarak. After the initial attacks by the US and Israel, Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes at US military bases around the region in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Iran has also launched multiple barrages at Israel, including missiles and drones, and said it was carrying out an “extensive drone offensive operation” against its longtime foe.

US strikes on Iran included a mix of weapons such as Tomahawk cruise missiles, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, drones, and undisclosed standoff weapons designed for long-range strikes outside the reach of enemy air defenses.

In response to retaliatory attacks from Iran, various air defense weapons have been active, including the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, batteries.

Saturday’s strike is the second time in less than a year that the US has launched a strike campaign against Iran. In June 2025, US forces targeted Iranian nuclear facilities. In the weeks prior to the most recent attack, the US built up a massive force presence in and around the Middle East.

• Israel said 200 fighter jets participated in its airstrikes against Iran on Saturday.
• It marked what Israel said was the “largest” air operation in its history.
• The strikes were carried out alongside US forces and triggered retaliation from Iran.

Roughly 200 fighter jets participated in Israel’s widespread airstrikes against Iran on Saturday, the Israeli military said, calling the attack the largest air operation in its history.

The Israeli fighter jets dropped hundreds of bombs on 500 targets in western and central Iran, including air defense systems and missile launchers, the military said in a statement. The government earlier announced it had carried out a “preemptive” strike.

Attacks on the defensive systems — a tactic known as suppression of enemy air defenses, or SEAD — allowed Israel to expand its aerial superiority over Iranian territory, the military added.

“This is the largest military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force,” it said, adding that the operation was based on extensive planning and “high-quality intelligence.”

The strikes involved Israeli F-35 stealth fighters and F-15 jets. The full extent of the aircraft that participated is unclear.

Israeli warplanes attacked Iran alongside the US military. President Donald Trump described the American involvement as the start of “major combat operations” after nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington broke down.

A US official told Business Insider that American air, land, and naval forces were involved in the strikes against Iran and launched drones, rocket artillery, and cruise missiles, among other weapons.

US fighter aircraft also participated in the attacks, which targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, air defenses, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields, the American military said.

Hundreds of Iranians have been killed and wounded in strikes so far, according to multiple reports.

Iran retaliated by launching waves of missiles against Israel and US bases across the Middle East, sending the region into an air defense frenzy.

US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, said its forces “successfully defended against hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.”

Several Middle Eastern countries confirmed shooting down Iranian missiles as well, though some projectiles managed to slip past air defenses. CENTCOM said there are no reports of US casualties, nor has there been significant damage to American facilities.

Saturday’s strikes mark the second time in less than a year that the US has attacked Iran. American forces bombed the country’s nuclear facilities in June 2025 as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.

They also follow a steady buildup of US military forces in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, including more than a dozen warships and hundreds of aircraft.

• Emily Susman was addicted to alcohol and came up with constant excuses to avoid getting sober.
• The businesswoman experienced a wake-up call after a night of heavy drinking in January 2021.
• She quit drinking, lost 100 pounds, and saved $55,500 in five years by no longer buying liquor.

This interview is based on a conversation with Emily Susman, 42, a chef and cookbook author from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I don’t blame anyone else for my alcoholism — it was all on me — but I grew up in a family where beer, wine, and liquor were part of the culture.

I’m half Lebanese, and every holiday and other social occasion centered on eating and drinking.

At 14, my grandfather handed me a vodka and tonic and said, “This is the way to drink responsibly, surrounded by your family in the safety of home.”

I dealt with stress by reaching for the bottle

In college, I joined a sorority where we partied hard. During rush season, our older sisters presented us with bottles of hard liquor covered with ribbons.

I was never far away from alcohol, whether I was working for my uncle as a bartender or establishing my own successful restaurant and catering firm in Dallas in my thirties.

But the bad habits really set in after I sold the business and started working with my husband, Drake, 43, at his gas-and-oil brokerage. I was in charge of the books and dealt with the ongoing financial stress by reaching for the bottle.

It got to the point where I was getting through a large bottle of vodka every few days. I’d hide the evidence in the pantry because I didn’t want Drake to see how often it was happening.

I’d use any excuse to drink, whether it was to celebrate the good times or commiserate with myself when something went wrong.

The tell-tale signs were there. I was overweight from all the wasted calories and my habit of eating more when I was drunk. I’d experience crushing hangovers, get the shakes, and vomit the morning after.

My family started to get on my case. “This is a problem for you,” they would say. “You need to get your act together.” Every time, I’d make an excuse. I’ll tell them that I’d cut down after Thanksgiving or give up entirely on New Year’s Day.

I tried fad diets and didn’t exercise

Inevitably, I’d be back drinking by Blake’s birthday in the middle of January.

Things got even worse when the pandemic began in March 2020. I was often confined to the house and passed the time drinking. I disregarded the needs of my body by not exercising and trying fad diets that weren’t sustainable.

Then, a month into 2021, I awoke from a particularly bad episode and stared at myself in the mirror. At 5ft 8in, I was 230 pounds and a size 16. I bawled my eyes out because I was so miserable.

Something changed. I came downstairs and said to Blake, “I can’t do this anymore.” I sought therapy and had my last drink in early February.

I realized the all-or-nothing approach that fueled my alcoholism could be redirected to something positive.

It was a simple process without frills. I took pride in reaching each milestone: five days, then 30 days, then 120 days, and so on.

My weight-loss journey was slow and steady

Distractions made all the difference, whether I was using adult coloring books, painting with acrylics, or even sucking on lollipops when I craved sugar or the oral fixation of drinking.

Best of all, I reignited my love of cooking. I relied on my professional culinary background to make nutritious, balanced meals, which broke the cycle of binge-eating, restricting, and guilt.

My sensible diet, combined with simple exercises such as walking and strength training, helped me lose 100 pounds. I did it slowly and surely — losing around one pound a week — and now weigh 126 pounds.

I’m a size zero to two and no longer hide my figure in baggy clothing. I’ve been sober for five years.

Another benefit is the amount of money I’ve saved. I found an app that took my average spending on alcohol of $30 a day to calculate that I’ve saved nearly $55,500 since 2021.

Meanwhile, I launched my company, Emma Claire’s Kitchen, the same year I got sober. It offers practical, tasty recipes and products, such as spices and, soon, mocktail powders.

I’m so grateful to my husband and my family

I’m a completely different person from the wreck I saw in the mirror that terrible morning. I love and value myself and am so grateful to Blake and the rest of my family for staying by my side.

It’s scary to think that I nearly lost everything — including my life — to alcohol. I’ll never go back to what passed as an existence, just getting through the day.

I have a bright future ahead of me now.

• More than 817,000 people moved out of California from 2021 to 2022, per most recent census data.
• It’s not just regular people: Celebrities have left Los Angeles for places like Texas and Florida.
• Here are 26 celebrities who left LA — plus where they chose to move to and why.

California is the US state with the most people moving out, with about 817,000 leavers between 2021 and 2022, according to the most recent census data.

A higher cost of living plus the increased threat of wildfires have people choosing other places across the country.

And while regular people ditch the Golden State, several celebrities, who can typically afford to live wherever they want, have also decided California is no longer the place for them.

Singer turned talk show host Kelly Clarkson traded Los Angeles for New York City post-divorce for in 2022, while actor Sylvester Stallone said in 2024 that he and his family are “permanently” vacating California for South Florida.

Popular moving destinations for Californians include Arizona, Florida, and Texas. And some have chosen different countries completely.

People have told Business Insider that their reasons for leaving LA and California include high taxes, expensive home prices, and challenging social and political conditions. Some celebrities remain tight-lipped when sharing details of their moves, simply saying they’re looking for a fresh start. Other high-profile actors, however, admit that the fast-paced, stressful scene in Hollywood can be another motivation.

Los Angeles, in particular, is experiencing an exodus of wealthier people in search of places where their money goes further.

Take Gus Lira, a managing partner at a private jet charter company, who had a condo in Malibu overlooking the ocean. California taxes were wearing him down, so he decided to move to Nevada.

“For me, really the main reason, and for many of the people that I know, is just taxes,” Lira told Business Insider in January. “You can’t get ahead when you get $100 and they take $60.”

Business Insider compiled a list of 26 celebrities — some in celebrity couples — who left California for greener pastures, presented in alphabetical order by last name. We tried to include both where they moved to and why they left LA.

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake left LA to shield their kids from the glare of the paparazzi.

The power couple has dealt with the paparazzi for most of their professional careers. But they had enough of their kids also having to endure it.

Since 2018, Biel, Timberlake, and their two kids have lived predominantly at their properties in Tennessee and Montana.

“You get hammered on the East Coast. You kind of get hammered on the West Coast. That’s why we don’t really live there anymore,” said Biel in a May 2024 episode of SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa,” seemingly referring to her former home of LA. “We’re just trying to create some normalcy for these kids.”

Dean Cain left LA for Las Vegas because of the “incredible taxation” and “horrible regulations for business” in California.

Dean Cain, best known for playing Clark Kent/Superman in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” was fed up with how things were run in California.

The actor split for Vegas in 2023.

“It’s the most ridiculous large government, incredible taxation, horrible regulations for business,” he told Fox News Digital in 2023. “Very anti-business.”

Cain said California’s personal income tax felt especially high.

“I moved to Las Vegas. I live in Nevada now,” he added. “I have 10 times as nice a house. I’m not kidding. Ten times as nice a house as I had in Malibu. The house is absolutely stunningly built. Gorgeous, beautiful. Everything is brand new.”

Kelly Clarkson didn’t just move from LA to New York — she took her daytime talk show with her.

Kelly Clarkson felt she had a new lease on life when she moved to New York City last year.

After finalizing her divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock in 2022, she didn’t just take her kids east. She also brought “The Kelly Clarkson Show” — it started taping in New York in season 5.

“I was very depressed for the last three years — and maybe a little before that, if I’m being honest. I think I really needed the change,” the Grammy winner told People. “I needed it for me and my family as well. My kids are thriving here. We’re just doing so much better, and we needed a fresh start.”

George and Amal Clooney left LA so their kids could “get a fair shake at life” — they are now French citizens.

The Clooneys have lived the quieter life in Italy and France for years, but always had a home in LA, an English-style estate that George bought from Stevie Nicks back in 1995.

They finally sold that house in 2024 and now spend most of their time at their farmhouse in France with their twins, Ella and Alexander.

George told Esquire in 2025 why they left. “I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood,” he said. “I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.”

“I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi,” he added. “I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”

In late December 2025, George and Amal became French citizens.

Jesse Eisenberg moved to his wife’s hometown of Bloomington, Indiana.

Actor and director Jesse Eisenberg took the pandemic as an opportunity to leave Los Angeles. Eisenberg, his wife, and their son packed up an RV and drove to his wife’s hometown of Bloomington, Indiana.

“We have driven cross-country a lot, but we thought it would be prudent to isolate in an RV instead of stopping at hotels,” Eisenberg told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020.

Initially, Eisenberg moved to Indiana to help take care of his late mother-in-law after she got sick and also help out at a domestic violence shelter where she worked.

But Eisenberg was happy to be in Indiana.

“I’ve lived in Indiana for a decade on-and-off and that’s where I feel the most comfortable,” Eisenberg told CBS News in February. “I’m not somebody who wants to surround myself in an industry that just feels kind of unstable.”

Chris Evans wanted to be closer to family in Massachusetts.

Silverscreen superhero and Massachusetts native Chris Evans listed his Los Angeles home in May for $6.99 million, The Wall Street Journal reported, cementing his abandonment of California.

“After over a decade of amazing memories in his LA home, Chris is planning to move to the East Coast to be closer to family,” Evans’ listing agent Scott Moore said in a statement to People.

Evans married his wife, Alba Baptista, in Cape Cod, and now they both spend most of their time in Massachusetts.

Walton Goggins moved to New York after the pandemic.

“The White Lotus” star Walton Goggins and his wife, Nadia Conners, moved to New York’s Hudson Valley during the pandemic in 2021. But, he told Architectural Digest in February, the move was less about California, and more about New York.

“We weren’t running away from Los Angeles,” he said. “We were running toward something.”

“The pandemic opened windows of self-perception and possibility,” he added. “It was an opportunity to do something different, not to start over from scratch but to change, to evolve.”

Goggins, who was raised in Georgia, chose to live in a 1920s home upstate that resembles a hunting lodge — with an abundance of wood paneling and wood flooring — instead of the glitzy surroundings of Los Angeles.

John Goodman left LA in the late ’80s.

John Goodman figured out a long time ago that Los Angeles wasn’t for him and has been living in New Orleans since the late 1980s.

Like many, the Emmy winner first visited Crescent City to party. In the late 1970s, he showed up with his fraternity pals. A few years later, as an actor, he was shooting the movie “Everybody’s All-American” alongside Dennis Quaid, Jessica Lange, and Timothy Hutton when he met his future wife, Anna Beth. He’s been attached to the city ever since.

“I used to come down here every time I’d get a few dimes to rub together, and it felt like I was missing something unless I was here,” he told “Today” in 2023. “I consider myself very lucky to be here.”

Adrian Grenier left California to work on a farm in Texas.

Adrian Grenier, known mostly from his “Entourage” fame, left California for Texas in 2020.

Grenier traded the glitzy life of Hollywood for a farm 45 minutes outside Austin, Texas, where he prefers a quieter lifestyle outside the spotlight.

“I don’t miss anything about that world. Listen, if you go on Instagram long enough, you’re going to find some FOMO somewhere, but everyone is just pretending they’re living their best life,” he told Life Magazine in 2021. “Ultimately, I know that I am, so I don’t even tell anybody about it.”

Josh Hartnett has been living in the English countryside since the pandemic. He left Hollywood after dealing with a stalker.

The actor recently gained renewed attention thanks to movies like “Oppenheimer” and “Trap,” but don’t expect to find him hanging out on the Sunset Strip. Since the pandemic, he’s ditched LA for the English countryside.

Hartnett and his wife, British actor Tamsin Egerton, have lived in Hampshire since COVID hit, bringing up their four kids. He’s living in the UK on a marriage visa, so he can only leave the country for work for around 180 days a year.

After spending his early career in the Hollywood spotlight, Hartnett told The Guardian he loves the village country life where “nobody cares” who you are.

“This is all brand new to me,” he said. “I never would have expected it. And time passes quickly. With four children, you have so much to do. In a way, less is happening. But more of the important stuff is happening.”

Being outside Hollywood is also safer for Hartnett. He told The Guardian that when he lived in LA, he had experiences with stalkers.

“People showed up at my house. People that were stalking me,” he said. “A guy showed up at one of my premieres with a gun, claiming to be my father. He ended up in prison. There were lots of things. It was a weird time. And I wasn’t going to be grist for the mill.”

Chris Hemsworth moved his family back to his homeland of Australia right when his Marvel fame hit.

Hemsworth figured out LA wasn’t for him right around the time the first “Thor” movie came out in 2011.

“We kind of were set up in LA and not enjoying it, you know?” Hemsworth said on the “SmartLess” podcast in February 2026, referring to him and his wife, fellow actor Elsa Pataky. “Like nothing was shooting there. We were filming kind of everywhere else and then you’d come home, and then paparazzi and all the sort of the trappings of, you know, living in that space.”

Hemsworth and Pataky moved with their two young children to Hemsworth’s native Australia and have been there ever since.

“You know, when you come back from work, you wanna go on a holiday? Like coming home for me is — it feels like a holiday,” Hemsworth said. “We have a big farm and horses and motorbikes and surf.”

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban moved to Tennessee to be closer to the country music scene.

A year after Nicole Kidman tied the knot with country-music star Keith Urban, the two got the heck out of LA.

In 2007, they moved to Nashville, where the Australian Oscar winner dove headfirst into Urban’s world.

“That country-music community is a very warm community,” she told People in 2016. “It’s very protective. Keith’s been a part of it for decades now. It’s his home, it’s our home.”

In September, Kidman filed for divorce from Urban.

Lindsay Lohan left LA for Dubai and now has privacy, peace, and space.

Lohan has lived on both coasts, but she currently prefers to be in the United Arab Emirates, where she lives with her husband, financier Bader Shammas, and their two-year-old son.

In a May 2025 profile in Elle, Lohan said that when she was living in Los Angeles, she would be “stressed” about the paparazzi taking photos of her while at the park with her son. Living in New York, there’s a “different kind of energy” but not as much space. Living in Dubai, she gets it all.

“I get the privacy, I get the peace, I get the space,” she said. “I don’t have to worry there; I feel safe.”

Eva Longoria and her family split time between Mexico and Spain.

The star and producer made the decision a few years ago to move out of Los Angeles.

She now splits her time between Mexico and Spain. She told Marie Claire in 2024 that she left Hollywood behind because it felt like that “chapter in my life is done now.”

While on “Live with Kelly and Mark” in April, Longoria said she loves traveling to the Andalucía region of Spain to enjoy the small beach bars and restaurants.

Matthew McConaughey headed to Texas to help his family.

A few years before the McConaissance led to Matthew McConaughey’s best actor Oscar win, he and his wife, Camila Alves, fled Hollywood for his home state of Texas.

The two settled in Austin in 2012 after buying a 10,800-square-foot mansion. According to a profile in Southern Living, it was initially because of a “family crisis,” as he needed to help his mother and two brothers. That led to the couple deciding to stay put to raise their three children there.

“Ritual came back,” McConaughey said of being back in Texas. “Whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before.”

“This is Us” star Chrissy Metz packed up for the Southern hospitality of Nashville.

After 21 years on the grind in LA, Metz packed up and left town when the pandemic hit. She now resides in Nashville.

“There’s a lot going on,” “The Hunting Wives” star told People in April 2025. “There’s obviously great music, great food. I grew up in the South, so I’m used to sort of that hospitality — it feels more communal here. In LA it was always like, ‘Oh, you have an audition? What’s it for? Oh, you have an audition? What for?’ It was all very dog eat dog!”

Glen Powell moved to Texas after making it big in LA.

Glen Powell left Los Angeles and returned to his home state of Texas in 2024.

Powell, who had a breakout role in “Top Gun: Maverick,” has lived in Los Angeles for more than 15 years, but told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024 that he’s done enough in Hollywood and he feels he can now live elsewhere. “It’s like I’ve earned the ability to go back to my family,” he said.

Not only does living in Texas allow Powell to be closer to family, but he’s also finishing his degree at the University of Texas.

“I think this is going to be good for my head, heart, and soul,” he said.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively left LA after just six months of dating.

When you know, you know. After less than a year of dating, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively packed up their stuff and left Hollywood for the suburbs of New York City.

In 2012, after six months of dating, the couple bought a $2.3 million home in Pound Ridge, New York.

“We don’t live in LA. We live on a farm in New York,” said the “Deadpool” star in a 2015 interview. “And we don’t lead a wild and crazy life. It’s not that hard. It’s not a big deal.”

Julia Roberts hasn’t lived in LA for decades.

The Oscar winner realized many years ago that Los Angeles wasn’t for her.

Roberts moved to a 32-acre ranch in Taos, New Mexico, in 1995.

The “Pretty Woman” star told Oprah back in 2003 that in New Mexico, everything is “clear.”

“Around here, I come and go like it’s nothing,” she said. “Los Angeles is such a town of show business, and I’m a terrible celebrity. I find it difficult — it’s the beast that must be fed.”

Amanda Seyfried headed to Upstate New York for a taste of the simple life.

With movies like “Mean Girls” and “Mamma Mia!” in her filmography, you would think Amanda Seyfried would want to lay her head down somewhere glamorous.

But she actually prefers life on a farm.

Seyfried spends most of her time on a farm in the Catskills, a mountain range north of New York City, that she purchased in 2014, Architectural Digest reported in 2023.

“It’s insane how much I can feel so accomplished and successful here without having to be in a successful movie,” she told The New York Times in 2020.

Sylvester Stallone wanted a new start in Florida.

After decades of living in Los Angeles — including in his first dingy apartment on Balboa Boulevard, which would become the inspiration for his iconic character Rocky Balboa — Sylvester Stallone packed up and left town in 2023.

This was first revealed in early 2024, during season two of his reality series “The Family Stallone”.

“After a long, hard consideration, your mother and I have decided, time to move on and leave the state of California permanently, and we’re going to go to Florida,” Stallone said. “We’re going to sell this house.”

Stallone and his wife, Jennifer Flavin, gave multiple reasons for the relocation, including the desire for a fresh start after their children moved out of the family home.

Rod Stewart went back to his roots in England.

The legendary rocker decided that at 79 years old, it was time to stop traveling across the pond.

In 2023, he put his sprawling 38,500-square-foot Beverly Hills property, which he has lived in since 1975, on the market.

Selling the home is bittersweet for Stewart: “I don’t want to sell it, and the kids don’t want me to sell it either,” he told People in 2023. “There’s too many fond memories. I’ve lived [in LA] since 1975, and I adore the place.”

But he said he’s making England a more permanent home since wrapping up his latest world tour and Las Vegas residency.

Eric Stonestreet left Hollywood for Kansas City to get away from the “douchebaggery” of the business.

“Modern Family” star Eric Stonestreet did not mince words when he explained why he’s been living in Kansas City since the acclaimed show ended after 11 seasons in 2020.

In a September 2024 interview with long-form interview journalist Graham Bensinger, he said a big reason he left LA was to get away from all the fake people in Hollywood.

“What I realized it does is it highlights everything great about our business, the entertainment business,” the actor said on what it’s like to no longer live in LA. “And it highlights all the douchebaggery of our business. It amplifies it. Because I’m here, I’m dealing with people from here, and I’m going into the store and having all these authentic, real moments, and then I go to Hollywood, and you’re reminded of some of the types of people that you deal with.”

Hilary Swank moved to a Colorado ski town.

The Oscar winner is loving her new life in the mountains of Telluride, Colorado, on 168 acres with five rescue dogs.

She and her husband, Philip Schneider, bought the land in 2016, broke ground in 2018, and finally completed the home in 2020.

A year later, she put her LA home on the market and has been living it up in the great outdoors.

“I have been looking for land since I was in my mid-20s,” Swank told Architectural Digest in 2022. “I find nature to be my happiest place, and animals are my other happiest place. And to be with both of them is everything to me.”

Mark Wahlberg moved his family to Las Vegas for a “fresh start.”

Boston-born Mark Wahlberg set out to LA years ago to make it as an actor. Over his career, he realized he rarely stayed there to make any of his movies. So, in 2022, he packed up and moved his family to Las Vegas.

He told The Talk in October 2022 that in Nevada his four kids can more easily pursue their hobbies, including golfing, riding horses, and playing basketball.

“We came here to just kind of give ourselves a new look, a fresh start for the kids, and there’s a lot of opportunity here,” Wahlberg told The Talk. “I’m really excited about the future.”