{"id":745320,"date":"2026-06-18T21:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/745320\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:45:12","slug":"elisha-cuthbert-reveals-why-she-quit-hollywood-for-years-to-stay-home-with-her-kids-i-didnt-want-to-be-on-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/745320\/","title":{"rendered":"Elisha Cuthbert Reveals Why She Quit Hollywood for Years To Stay Home With Her Kids: \u2018I Didn\u2019t Want To Be on Set\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Girl Next Door\u201d star Elisha Cuthbert has revealed why she decided to walk away from Hollywood at the height of her fame<\/a>, pausing her successful acting career to devote herself to spending time at home with her children.<\/p>\n

Cuthbert, 43, who is from Canada<\/a>, recently returned to the spotlight with a starring role in the Prime Video series “Every Year After,” which premiered on June 10 and marked the actress’ first major project since 2022.<\/p>\n

Now, the actress, who shares two children with her husband, former NHL star Dion Phaneuf, has opened up about what led to her hiatus from her on-screen career. During an appearance on the “Today” show<\/a>, Cuthbert revealed that while expecting her second baby, she realized it was time to shift her priorities.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u201cI realized I worked all four years through our first child, and it was really hard,\u201d Cuthbert told hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, when we had our second, I just felt like I didn\u2019t want to waste any second of it, and I didn\u2019t want to be on set. I just felt like I needed to be at home with the kids, and I enjoyed every minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Celebrity<\/p>\n

Elisha Cuthbert’s last major project was in 2022, in which she starred as Andrea in Allan Ungar\u2019s crime film \u201cBandit.\u201d (Jose Perez\/Bauer-Griffin\/GC Images)<\/p>\n

However, now with both of her children\u2014daughter Zaphire, born in 2017, and son Fable, born in 2022\u2014 getting older, the actress said she felt like the time was right for her to return to the set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re in school now full time,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I have the space and the energy and the heart to kind of leave them and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Year After\u201d is Cuthbert\u2019s first significant acting role in years. Her last major project was in 2022, in which she starred as Andrea in Allan Ungar\u2019s crime film \u201cBandit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her role as Sue in \u201cEvery Year After,\u201d Cuthbert plays the mother of Charlie, played by Michael Bradway, and Sam, played by Matt Cornett, who falls in love with Percy, played by Sadie Soverall.<\/p>\n

The romance series is based on Carley Fortune\u2019s bestselling novel \u201cEvery Summer After.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuthbert confessed that she was unaware of Fortune\u2019s books before taking up the role, but has since become an enthusiast of Fortune\u2019s works.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy because I hadn\u2019t read any of Carley\u2019s books, and then I got on the show,\u201d Cuthbert said. \u201cObviously had the script, but I wanted to read the novel. And then I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m a superfan now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuthbert further exposed her love for Fortune\u2019s works by sharing that she\u2019s read all of her books and recommends them to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ranch\u201d star also revealed that she\u2019s grateful that Soverall, 24, won\u2019t have to experience the same stress from fame that she endured at the height of her career in the 2000s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of pressure,\u201d she said. \u201cSadie Soverall, it\u2019s nice that she\u2019s in a time now where she doesn\u2019t have to worry about those things. It\u2019s very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian actress got her start as a child model before making her acting debut in 1996, at age 13, as an extra on the horror series \u201cAre You Afraid of the Dark?\u201d She became a regular on the show in 1999.<\/p>\n

\""Every<\/p>\n

In her role as Sue in \u201cEvery Year After,\u201d Cuthbert plays the mother of Charlie and Sam. (Dia Dipasupil\/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)<\/p>\n

\"Elisha<\/p>\n

Cuthbert became a cult icon in the early 2000s after starring in the hit movie “The Girl Next Door.” (Jeffrey Mayer\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

Cuthbert\u2019s first feature film role came in 1997, in which she played Sarah in the Canadian family drama \u201cDancing on the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

She co-hosted a youth educational show, \u201cPopular Mechanics for Kids,\u201d with Jay Baruchel from 1997 to 2000, before taking on her first major breakout role as Kim Bauer on the hit Fox thriller series \u201c24\u201d in 2001.<\/p>\n

She went on to star in the 2003 comedy \u201cOld School\u201d and 2005 horror \u201cHouse of Wax,\u201d with her last major role ending in 2020, as Abby Phillips-Bennett on the Netflix sitcom \u201cThe Ranch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuthbert took on only a few other minor roles following the show\u2019s conclusion before stepping away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n

During her time away from acting, the on-screen star also toyed with changing another significant aspect of her life\u2014listing her longtime home base in Los Angeles for $3.13 million in July 2025, while simultaneously offering the dwelling as a $12,650-a-month rental.<\/p>\n

The actress purchased the three-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling in 2005 for almost $1.65 million, months after she appeared in the cult 2004 movie “The Girl Next Door,” which turned her into a veritable Hollywood pinup for the modern era.<\/p>\n

Located just above the Sunset Strip and behind the Chateau Marmont hotel, the elegant abode sits above a street-level two-car garage.<\/p>\n

The residence features a recessed entryway that opens to a center-hall foyer, which leads to a shared living and dining room with a walk-in wet bar. Additionally, the home has a den that opens to an all-white kitchen with marble countertops, an apron-front sink, a professional-grade range, and a breakfast nook.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, the primary suite contains a luxe bath and Juliet balconies. The home has hardwood floors, hand-hewn beam ceilings, and accordion-fold glass doors, which open to a courtyard patio with a fireplace. The backyard even includes a turf-clad plateau with gorgeous city views.<\/p>\n

However, property records indicate that Cuthbert and her spouse never actually secured a buyer for the residence, which was taken off the market in May of this year. It’s also unclear whether they managed to find a tenant for their home.<\/p>\n

While the actress never revealed what prompted her to put the home on the market, she is known to spend much of her free time at her residence in Canada: a stunning waterfront estate on Prince Edward Island, which she and her husband have owned for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Girl Next Door\u201d star Elisha Cuthbert has revealed why she decided to walk away from Hollywood at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,242426,134,1973,45807,358641,352969,358642,358640],"class_list":["post-745320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-elisha-cuthbert","tag-entertainment","tag-hollywood","tag-jenna-bush-hager","tag-major-project","tag-sadie-soverall","tag-starring-role","tag-the-girl-next-door"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}