Toy Story 5 star Joan Cusack has revealed why she stepped away from Hollywood at the height of her career.
Over the past week, the actress made a number of carpet appearances for the first time in 11 years for the premiere of Toy Story 5.
Speaking at the world premiere in Los Angeles, Cusack revealed the real reason for her disappearance from screens.
“I think because I worked for a long time and you know, I feel so honoured to be able to work in this industry for a long time,” she told Variety. “But it’s also pretty great to live your life and raise your kids, and be in Chicago and be a normal person. It’s kind of priceless. It’s kind of cool, there’s not that many movies that do huge red carpets anymore.
“Being on a carpet is just kind of one part of Hollywood. There are no red carpets for TV shows and smaller movies. I just haven’t been in a movie this big in a long time. But I’ve got to say I did say at a certain point that I want to make raising my kids my priority,” she added in an interview with E! News.
Cusack has been married to lawyer and business executive Richard Burke since 1996. They have two sons together: Dylan John Burk, who was born in 1997 and Miles Burke, who was born in 2000.
Dylan and Miles were raised primarily in Chicago rather than Los Angeles to keep them out of the Hollywood spotlight. Cusack has stated previously that she wanted her boys to grow up grounded in a city with rich culture, rather than having their lives revolve around the entertainment industry in Los Angeles.
She previously told Huff Post: “As my kids would say, ‘Chicago is awesome!’ It has rich culture and history, as well as some of the best museums, architecture and restaurants in the world. Plus, it prevents our family life from revolving around TV and the movies. In LA. it’s easy to get caught up in what you look like or how much money you have, and those aren’t values I want my kids to adopt.”
Meanwhile, the actress reprised her role as the voice behind cowgirl rag doll Jessie, alongside her co-stars Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) and director Andrew Stanton.
Cusack was last seen walking a red carpet at the 2015 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, where she took home a gold statue for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Shameless.
She was accompanied by her husband for the historic occasion, which marked her first Emmy win.
