The US entertainment industry has primarily been based in and around the thirty-mile zone (TMZ), centered in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles County, since the early 20th century. Filmmakers saw in southern California an ideal mix of favorable weather—mild climate with plenty of sunshine—varied terrain, and a large labor market.

Los Angeles quickly became synonymous with high-profile films, TV shows, and recording studios, and celebrities began moving to the city to take advantage of networking opportunities and enjoy a luxurious lifestyle within the privacy of gated communities.

However, a number of stars have chosen to say goodbye to the United States and seek career opportunities abroad— whether out of love, political disagreements, a desire to escape intrusive paparazzi, or to connect with their roots.

Here are 25 well-known celebrities who moved out of the States, either recently or at some point in their careers.

#1 George Clooney– France

George moved to Brignoles, Provence, France with his wife, Amal Clooney, and their children in 2021 to enjoy a “peaceful life” away from Hollywood.

“We love being here,” the actor told Paris Match.

In 2021, Garzia reported that George actively participated in local developments, including a sustainable agriculture project, and spoke with Didier Brémond, the mayor of Brignoles.

Image credits: Bruce Glikas/WireImage/Getty Images

#2 Chris Hemsworth– Australia

Chris and his wife, Spanish model Elsa Pataky, swapped LA for his native Australia in 2014.

Their Byron Bay mansion is close to a farm with seven horses. “That was my deal with Chris,” Elsa revealed. “I said I would move to Australia, but I wanted to live on a property, a farm, and have horses, and he knew that. I wanted to enjoy that.”

The two had originally agreed that neither of them would force the other to live in their country, given the distance between Spain and Australia.

However, Elsa said “it ended up happening” because she “fell in love” with Byron Bay, which she compared to “paradise.”

Image credits: chrishemsworth

#3 Ellen Degeneres– UK

Ellen and her wife, Portia de Rossi, moved to the Cotswolds in the UK following the 2024 presidential elections.

“Ellen was in England house hunting in the beginning of October. She ended up finding a house that she loved and purchased it shortly after,” a source close to the TV host told People magazine.

The move also came after the Ellen DeGeneres Show got cancelled in its 19th season following accusations that Ellen contributed to a toxic work environment. 

Ellen said her last public project would be her 2024 Netflix special, after which she would be “done.”

Image credits: youtube.com

#4 Britney Spears– Mexico

Last year, the Princess of Pop revealed on Instagram that she had decided to move to Mexico to escape harassment from “extremely mean and cruel” paparazzi.

“It really kind of hurts my feelings that the paparazzi make my face look like I’m wearing, like, a white Jason mask,” she said. 

“It doesn’t even look like me. They’ve always been incredibly cruel to me, the paparazzi and pictures and the way they’ve illustrated me to be in some of it.”

Image credits: Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images

#5 Pamela Anderson– France and Canada

The blonde bombshell lived in France between 2017 and 2019 when she was in a relationship with soccer player Adil Rami, who played in the southern city of Marseille.

In 2020, she moved to her native Canada after purchasing and renovating her mother’s home at a time when she felt “very sad and lonely.”

“I came to a point where I decided to move home and disappear and get into my garden,” Pamela explained. “And when I started building the garden, it was really like a metaphor of putting my life back together.”

Image credits: pamelaanderson

#6 Angelina Jolie– Cambodia and France

Angelina owns a home in Cambodia, which is the birthplace of her son Maddox and the location where Tomb Raider was filmed. She purchased the home in 2003 to connect Maddox with his heritage.

She also owns a property in France called Chateau Miraval, where she married Brad Pitt. The estate served as a family retreat for the former couple and their children.

The Oscar-winning star said she’s planning to pack her bags and leave her native California “as soon as” 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox turn 18.

The actress said that she wants to “spend a lot of time in Cambodia” and “spend time visiting my family members, wherever they may be in the world.”

Image credits: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

#7 Lindsay Lohan– United Arab Emirates

The Freaky Friday star moved to Dubai in 2014. The change was reportedly motivated by the fact that paparazzi are illegal in the United Arab Emirates.

“I’m up with my son in the mornings, I do breakfast with him, go to my Pilates, come home for lunch, and go to the park, the same things that any normal mom would do in their daily life,” Lindsay said of her tranquil family life in the Middle East.

In 2023, she welcomed Luai, her first child, with Kuwaiti financier Bader Shammas.

Image credits: lindsaylohan

#8 Madonna– Portugal

Madonna relocated her family from London to Lisbon in 2017 to support her son David Banda’s football career, when he started to play at the Benfica youth academy.

She adopted David in 2006 at the Malawi Home of Hope orphanage when he was one year old.

According to Hello! Magazine, the singer’s mansion in Portugal boasted four bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a guesthouse, and a caretaker’s cottage.

The Gimme More hitmaker reportedly left Portugal for New York City in 2020.

Image credits: madonna

#9 Richard Gere– Spain

Richard and his wife, Alejandra, relocated to her native Spain this year. , “The truth is, you’re seeing us in our momentum. We’re happier than ever,” the Pretty Woman actor told Elle Spain.

“She’s happy because she’s at home, and I’m happy because if she’s happy, I’m happy.”

The couple met in Italy in 2014 when they were both going through divorce proceedings. Richard was separating from his second wife, actress Carey Lowell. The publicist was also ending her marriage to Canadian businessman Govind Friedland.

Richard and Alejandra share two sons, Alexander and James, who live with them in Spain. Richard has a son from his relationship with Carey, Homer. The 42-year-old publicist has a son with her ex-husband, named Albert.

Image credits: Xavi Torrent/Getty Images

#10 Sophie Turner– UK

Sophie lived in Los Angeles and Miami during her relationship with Joe Jonas, with whom she shares two daughters. Following their split, she returned to her native England.

“I’m so happy to be back. I never feel like myself when I’m not in London,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.

She said a lot of reasons “piled on” that made her want to leave the US, including “gun violence, the Uvalde shooting, and Roe v. Wade being overturned.”

Image credits: sophiet

#11 Tina Turner– Switzerland

Tina moved to Switzerland in 1995 with her then-boyfriend, Erwin Bach, and became a Swiss citizen after marrying the music executive in 2013.

“I have left America because my success was in another country, and my boyfriend was in another country,” the singer told CNN.

The late Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll signed the paperwork to relinquish her American citizenship at the US embassy in Bern in October 2013.

“[Home is] Zurich,” Tina added. “Because my boyfriend was moved there to run the company, and I always wanted to go to Switzerland, and I was very happy.”

Image credits: DENIZE alain/Sygma/Getty Images

#12 Johnny Depp– France and UK

Johnny Depp and his ex-partner Vanessa Paradis dated from 1998 to 2012, and during that time they spent a lot of time in their French village home. 

The pair shares two children: Lily-Rose and Jack Depp.

The Cote d’Azur mansion, which Johnny still owns, boasts an ample 15 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, two swimming pools and a skate park .

Johnny now resides in the United Kingdom and has swapped Hollywood for the rural English county of Somerset. “I can go into shops without being surrounded by people wanting selfies,” he said. “I don’t mind that up to a point, but sometimes it gets a little too crowded.”

Image credits: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images

#13 Shakira – Spain

Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira moved to Miami in the early 2000s to “look for a better future,” she told BBC News.

“I was surrounded by Spanish-English dictionaries and synonym dictionaries – because back in the day I didn’t really have Google or ChatGPT to [help]. So it was all very precarious,” she described.

The Monotonía singer moved to Spain in the early 2010s when her ex, Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, was playing for FC Barcelona.

Following their split, Shakira returned to Miami with her and Gerard’s two sons, Milan and Sasha.

Image credits: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

#14 Amber Heard– Spain

Amber moved from Los Angeles to Mallorca after losing the trial against her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

She moved to focus on raising her daughter, Oonagh Paige, whom she welcomed via surrogacy.

Her search for privacy in Europe has reportedly made her go by a different name: Martha Jane Cannary, the real name of American frontierswoman and sharpshooter Calamity Jane. 

Her current home is in the capital city of Madrid. “Regarding my past, I don’t feel like thinking or talking about it because I’m happy and at peace,” she told a paparazzo last September.

Image credits: amberheard

#15 Natalie Portman– France and Australia

The V for Vendetta actress lives in Paris with her two children, Aleph and Amalia. She moved there in 2014 with her then-husband, Benjamin Millepied.

“I find the people here are actually incredibly friendly – you just have to know how to interact, so that we’re not the ones being rude,” said Natalie, who grew up in Long Island, New York.

“Now, when I go back to the U.S., I’m like, ‘Oh,’ I would go into a store and not say hello to everyone there? It’s weird.”

The star said that Parisians are “very good at privacy.”

She previously lived in Australia while filming Thor: Love and Thunder in 2020 and 2021

Image credits: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

#16 Lily Collins– Denmark

Lily relocated to Copenhagen, Denmark, with her husband, director Charlie McDowell, in 2023.

“Life here is just so wonderful and so calm and bright. And what I love so much is that there’s so much color and, yet, it’s so calm,” the Emily in Paris star told Elle Denmark. 

“I love being able to bike everywhere. And it feels like a big city but also very intimate, and everyone is so nice.”

The couple, who chose the Scandinavian country as their honeymoon destination, own real estate company Case Study Copenhagen.

Image credits: lilyjcollins

#17 Gwyneth Paltrow– UK

Gwyneth’s houses are located on both coasts. While the Academy Award-winning actress usually lives in Los Angeles, she goes to the British coast when she’s looking for some peace and quiet.

The star, who lived in the UK with her ex, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, is reportedly looking to purchase another home in the village of Polzeath, located on Cornwall’s north coast.

“She isn’t a stranger and has spent a bit of time in Cornwall over the years. But it seems the quiet and sedate pace of life in Polzeath has caught her eye,” an insider told The Sun.

Image credits: gwynethpaltrow

#18 Eva Longoria– Spain and Mexico

Eva has been living between Spain, where she often works, and Mexico, where her husband José Bastón is from.

“I’ve been in Europe working for almost three years,” Eva shared last year. “I didn’t leave because of the political environment. I left because my work took me there.”

Though her main reason for relocating across the pond was professional, the actress named some problems she saw in her native US that contributed to her decision.

“Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes, not that I want to sh*t on California — it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now,” she said. 

She also called the US a “dystopian country” and said she feels “anxiety and sadness” for those who cannot leave.

Image credits: evalongoria

#19 Janet Jackson– UK

Janet moved from the US to the UK in 2016 to co-parent her and Wissam Al Mana’s son, Eissa, given that Wissam resides in London.

“The most important thing I’ve done, the biggest thing I’ve done, is become a mother, and it’s had a beautiful impact on my life,” the actress and singer told The Guardian.

“Your life completely changes. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Image credits: janetjackson

#20 Josh Hartnett– UK

Josh and his wife, Tamsin Egerton, lived between the US and her native UK for years. After welcoming their third child, they settled down in Hampshire.

Unlike in Los Angeles or New York, they said, people in the English countryside don’t pay much attention to them.

The Pearl Harbor actor told The Guardian that he can’t leave the UK for work for more than 180 days a year, as he’s on a marriage visa. Therefore, he can only shoot one film per year.

Living in the UK allows him to watch his children grow up in a way he wouldn’t if he lived in the States. “Time passes quickly. With four children, you have so much to do,” he said. “In a way, less is happening. But more of the important stuff is happening.”

Image credits: John Lamparski/Getty Images

#21 Robert Pattinson – UK

Robert and his fiancée, model Suki Waterhouse, split their time between Los Angeles, where they own a $5.3 million Spanish Colonial-style home, and West London, where she owns a spacious flat.

The 39-year-old British actor previously moved to Los Angeles after making a name for himself as Edward Cullen in Twilight.

The couple’s 1930s LA abode is based in a gated community. Its renovation by designer Jeff Lewis was documented on the Bravo show Flipping Out, as per Hello! Magazine.

Image credits: Lionel Hahn/Getty Images

#22 David Duchovny– Canada

In 1997, David got on Vancouverites’ bad side after complaining about the city’s weather during an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

“Vancouver is a very nice place if you like 400 inches of rainfall a day,” the New Yorker quipped. “It is kind of like a tropical rain forest without the tropics.”

The actor lived in Canada for five years while filming The X-Files. He now resides in New York City with his partner, Monique Pendleberry.

Image credits: davidduchovny

#23 Lenny Kravitz – Bahamas

“It’s here where I can listen to what I’ve been living, to what floats in the wind,” Lenny said of his home in The Bahamas. “Here, songs come to me written.”

The native New Yorker said he “fell in love” with the island country when he was five years old. His grandfather came from a district called Inagua, so his family wanted him to be in close connection with the country which he now calls “home.”

“Solitude is so important,” said Lenny, who was at his Bahamas home during the pandemic. 

“Each time I see two oceans meet, eat fruit from my hand from my garden, I think about my grandfather.”

Image credits: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

#24 Rosie O’donnell – Ireland

Rosie left the US for Ireland in January 2025. “I was never someone who thought I would move to another country. That’s what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child. And here we are,” she said on social media.

The talk show host revealed that she was in the process of securing her Irish citizenship, as her grandparents emigrated to America from Ireland.

“When, you know, it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back,” the 63-year-old explained. 

“It’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happening politically and hard for me personally as well. The personal is political, as we all know.”

Image credits: rosie

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