Josh Hartnett says he left Hollywood after being stalked by ‘unhealthy’ fans: ‘There were incidents’
nypost.comThe Guardian.“There were incidents. People showed up at my house. People that were stalking me.”As a result, Harnett and his wife — British actress Tamsin Egerton — packed up and moved to Hampshire, England in a desperate change of scenery.Since then, he’s only taken on a select few roles, including the hit 2023 box office sensation “Oppenheimer,” as well as M.
Night Shyamalan’s upcoming psychological thriller “Trap.”Opening up about the stalking incidents, Hartnett said that when he was 27, “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,” he added.Hartnett rose to fame with films like “Pearl Harbor” and “40 Days and 40 Nights” in the late ’90s and early 2000s.In 2014, Hartnett said part of his decision to stop making blockbuster movies was because he “didn’t trust anyone.”“I was on the cover of every magazine,” he explained to Details at the time (via Us Weekly). “I couldn’t really go anywhere.
I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. I was alone. I didn’t trust anyone.”The Minnesota native said his departure from Hollywood affected the kinds of roles he was able to take on.“I still get offered film and TV roles, luckily, but years ago, if I saw a role I wanted, there was a good chance I could grab it,” he said at the time. “When I see a role now, I’ve got to fight for it.
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