Actor Says Family Is More Important Than Hollywood Success
By Movieguide® Contributor
Actor Josh Hartnett says his Hollywood success means nothing without the support of “good community and good family.”
“Now that I have a family, when I go home at the end of the day, they don’t allow me the time to be self-indulgent and worry about what I did that day as a character, or stay in that mode,” Hartnett told Men’s Health. “There are things I have to do — kids are demanding and they need your time.”
Hartnett and wife Tamsin Egerton are parents to four kids who are 9, 7, 5 and six months old. The couple have never shared the names or genders of their children and keep details about them private.
They have revealed that their family lives in Surrey, England, as Egerton is British and wanted to be close to her family.
Hartnett also wanted to be away from Hollywood, calling it “an unhealthy environment.”
“Making art, generally, is very important to me,” Hartnett continued. “But without a good stable background of good community and good family, it doesn’t really amount to much. You need the first for the second to work really well.”
The PEARL HARBOR actor often talks about the joy he finds in fatherhood.
“Your ego just melts away when you have a new kid — your heart leaves your body, and you give it permission to walk around with someone else for a while,” he said in a 2016 interview. “It’s really terrifying, but it’s beautiful. I love it more than anything — I wish I would’ve started earlier.”
In an interview with Mr. Porter, the actor said, “The thing I am most proud of is that I’m a father of three and I have a good relationship with my partner and a great family life and I’m still able to do good work and, as I’ve got older, the characters have become more interesting.”
Josh Hartnett decided to leave Hollywood in part because “people’s attention to me at the time was borderline unhealthy.”
“People showed up at my house. People that were stalking me. A guy showed up at one of my premieres with a gun, claiming to be my father. He ended up in… pic.twitter.com/SRjoJvAx3Q
— Variety (@Variety) July 29, 2024