During a stop on her standup tour, Ellen DeGeneres said, “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
There’s no business like show business, but at the end of the day, it’s still a job. Oftentimes, celebrities retire from the career path that made them famous, even if they’re still active in other parts of the industry.
Here are 13 famous people who recently retired:
1. During a Q&A on her 2024 “Ellen’s Last Stand…Up” tour, Ellen DeGeneres reportedly said, “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
During her set, she said, “I got kicked out of show business for being mean…I used to say, ‘I don’t care what people say about me.’ Now I realize I said that during the height of my popularity.”
2. In 2024, Bella Hadid stepped away from modeling and moved to Texas. She told Allure, “After 10 years of modeling, realized I was putting so much energy and love and effort into something that, in the long run, wasn’t necessarily giving it back to me.”
She launched her own fragrance line, Ôrəbella.
3. In a since-deleted 2023 Instagram post, celebrity stylist Law Roach announced his retirement, writing, “My Cup is empty, Thank you to everyone who’ve supported me and my career over the years. Every person that trusted me with their image, I’m so grateful for you all. If this business was just about the clothes I would do it for the rest of my life but unfortunately it’s not! The politics, the lies and false narratives finally got me! You win… I’m out.” However, on Twitter, he clarified he wasn’t “breaking up” with longtime client Zendaya.
A few days later, he told Vogue, “I’m not saying I’m retiring from fashion. I love fashion. I love the businesses, and I love being creative. What I’m retiring from is the celebrity styling part of it: the being in service and at service of other people…I was riding in the car, and I made a decision. I said: ‘You know what, I’ve done everything I wanted to do in this career. I’ve received all the awards, the accolades, I’ve changed people’s lives…And I just feel like I’ve had enough.’ So that Instagram post wasn’t a PR stunt. It was really me giving myself the grace to say: It’s okay. You can do something else.
If you have never experienced being a child and going to bed hungry, you will never understand the reason why I work the way I work. I still wake up every morning with that gut-wrenching feeling that this can be over and I can go back to where I came from. So that’s the reason why, in my own mind, I felt like it was okay to put myself on the back burner for everybody else. Because I feel I have to work harder and be better than everybody. I stepped back and looked at my life and realized I don’t have anything but that career. I don’t want that to be the legacy.”
4. In 2024, Scooter Braun — who famously managed artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande — announced his retirement from music management. In an Instagram statement, he said he wanted to focus on being “a father first, a CEO [of HYBE Americsa] second, and a manager no more.”
He said, “I have been blessed to have had a Forrest Gump-like life while witnessing and taking part in the journeys of some of the most extraordinarily talented people the world has ever seen. I’m constantly pinching myself and asking ‘how did I get here?’ And after 23 years, this chapter as a music manager has come to an end.”
5. Ian Somerhalder left acting and moved to a farm with his family. In 2024, he told E! News, “I love what I did for a really long time. I love making films, I just did it for so long. We had an amazing run.”
“But this is our 2.0 version, about to be 3.0,” he said.
6. In 2022, Jim Carrey told Access Hollywood, “Well, I’m retiring. Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious.”
“It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break,” he said.
Since then, he’s only appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, reprising a previous role.
7. In 2022 Daddy Yankee told People, “Today, I’m announcing my retirement from music by giving you my best production and my best concert tour. I will say goodbye celebrating these 32 years of experience with this new collector’s item, the album Legendaddy. I’m going to give you all the styles that have defined me, in one.”
Then, in 2023, during the final show of his La Meta tour, Daddy Yankee told the audience that he was retiring and focusing on his Christianity.
As translated from Spanish by People, he said, “My people, this is the most important day of my life. I want to share it…because living a life of success is not the same as living a life of purpose.”
8. In a 2024 Instagram post, Evangeline Lilly said, “I am so filled with joy and contentment today as I live out my vision. Praise God, I feel so grateful for my blessings. Stepping away from what seems like the obvious choice (wealth and fame) can feel scary at times, but stepping into your dharma replaces the fear with fulfillment.”
She continued, “I might return to Hollywood one day, but, for now, this is where I belong. A new season has arrived, and I AM READY…and I AM HAPPY.”
9. In 2018, Britney Spears announced an “indefinite work hiatus.” Then, in a 2021 Instagram post, she said she “quit” after her sister, Jamie-Lynn Spears, performed remixes of her old songs — something Britney claimed she’d asked to do herself and been told, “No.”
In another Instagram post, she said, “It was a set up to make me fail yet I knew exactly what I wanted my [fans] to see and it didn’t make sense how network television shows are showcasing my music with remixes of all of my music … yet the person who owns the music is told no. They even gave remixes to my sister but why was I always told no? So much wasted time to only embarrass and humiliate me and I guess it seems odd to most now why I don’t even do my music anymore. People have no idea the awful things that were done to me personally… and after what I’ve been through, I’m scared of people and the business,. They really hurt me. Not doing my music anymore is my way of saying ‘Fuck You’ in a sense when it only actually benefits my family by ignoring my real work… it’s like I’ve subconsciously let them win.”
In 2024, she responded to rumors that she was working on new music. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Britney said, “Just so we’re clear most of the news is trash!!! They keep saying I’m turning to random people to do a new album. I will never return to the music industry!!! When I write, I write for fun, or I write for other people!!!”
She also shared that she’d been working as a ghostwriter for other artists, which she liked.
10. In 2024, Iggy Azalea seemingly shared her retirement from the music industry, tweeting, “I’ve always been someone who finds my joy in being creative & seeing my ideas come to life. For a long time I used music to deliver my big crazy ideas to the world. I know a lot of people have this idea that I was ‘bullied away from music’ and that’s something I’ve always laughed at because I’d never be bullied out of anything…In truth what I’ve known for a long time is that I feel more passionately about design and creative direction than I do about songwriting. That’s why I want to let you know that I’m not going to finish my album.”
She continued, “It’s been paused for a few months while I was giving direction for a different project & in truth I just haven’t felt the urge to go back to it. I feel really happy & passionate in my day to day life when my [mind’s] focused on that and so I want to stick to what’s undeniably best for me.”
11. In 2023, Michael Caine told BBC Radio, “I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well, I am now. I’ve figured I’ve had a picture [The Great Escaper] where I’ve played the lead and had incredible reviews…What am I going to do that will beat this?”
“The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this,” he said.
12. Daniel Day-Lewis retired from acting in 2017. In a statement, his publicist told BuzzFeed News, “Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.”
In 2024, filmmaker Jim Sheridan, who worked with Daniel on several movies, told Screen Daily, “He says he’s done, I keep talking to him. I’d love to do something with him again. He’s like everybody else, he opens up the streamers and there’s seven thousand choices, none of them are good. Film has been moved out of the public domain into a private domain – you have a remote, you can stop it. It’s not the same experience. It’d be great to see Daniel coming back and doing something ‘cos he’s so good.”
13. And in a 2019 Facebook post, Gilmore Girls actor David Sutcliffe said, “I officially retired from acting last week. It was a long time coming. My heart hasn’t been in it for years, but it wasn’t easy letting go of a career that gave me so much for so long…As some of you know, I’ve spent the last twelve years immersed in a deep study of Core Energetics, a powerful somatic psychotherapy that uncovers the unconscious emotional blocks that keep us from being fully alive and engaged with life. I was personally transformed by the work, and in 2012, I graduated from the 4-year training program at the Radical Aliveness Institute in Southern California. I’ve been leading groups and workshops ever since. “
He continued, “As my passion and skills continued to evolve, it became clear to me that this was becoming my life’s work, my path forward, and that it was time for me to commit to it all the way. And so last week I let my agents know I was closing the chapter on my 25-year career as an actor. My mission now is to share what I’ve learned, to create and inspire, helping others liberate themselves from the grips of emotional trauma and social conditioning so they can live lives full of creativity, love, power, and purpose.”
And here are 8 celebs who are considering retiring soon:
14. In 2024, Mary J. Blige told Extra, “Right now, I’m definitely gonna do some more acting, and I’m definitely gonna retire in, like, five or six years.”
She said she wanted to retire from music one day, too.
She said, “Right now, I’m still doing what I’m doing but not as often as I was doing it because I don’t have to now.”
15. In 2021, Selena Gomez told Vogue, “It’s hard to keep doing music when people don’t necessarily take you seriously. I’ve had moments where I’ve been like, ‘What’s the point? Why do I keep doing this?’ ‘Lose You to Love Me’ I felt was the best song I’ve ever released, and for some people, it still wasn’t enough. I think there are a lot of people who enjoy my music, and for that I’m so thankful, for that I keep going, but I think the next time I do an album, it’ll be different. I want to give it one last try before I maybe retire music.”
She explained that she wanted to focus on producing and “give [her]self a real shot at acting.”
She said, “”I haven’t even touched the surface of what I want to do. The parts that I want are the ones I need help with. I can’t wait for the moment when a director can see that I’m capable of doing something that no one’s ever seen.”
16. In 2023, Nicolas Cage told Vanity Fair, “It’s starting to solidify — I’m starting to cement my plan. I may have three or four more movies left in me.”
“I do feel I’ve said what I’ve had to say with cinema,” he says. “I think I took film performance as far as I could,” he said.
Then, in 2024, he told the New Yorker, “Well, I did two or three very supporting roles. So maybe three or four more lead roles. Maybe that’s more of what I was saying.”
17. In 2024, Keke Palmer told Teen Vogue, “I think the timer has started. I think it’s because I just haven’t felt it yet. But the timer, I know that it’s around the corner. I don’t know when exactly, but it’s around the corner.” She later clarified to People, “People took that literally, but I was thinking in like 20 years!”
She continued, “But also, what I will say is I meant a different type of ‘slowing down.’ I think there’s a version of me that really wants to do more producing, that really wants to do more directing, that wants to do even more work, not only in front of the camera. I’ll be still doing stuff, but I don’t know if I’m going to always want to be doing three movies a year. That’s amazing. Thank god I am doing that. But I don’t know if I always want to be doing it at that level or that way.”
18. In 2023, Jessica Lange told the Telegraph, “I think I’m going to start phasing out of filmmaking.” She also clarified she was thinking of retiring.
“I don’t think I’ll do this too much longer. Creativity is secondary now to corporate profits,” she said.
She also criticized “big comic book franchise films” and “frantic editing” in modern movies.
19. In 2022, Terrence Howard told Entertainment Tonight, “This is the end for me. This is the end for me. I don’t know if it’s the end for the rest of them. I retired two years ago, for the most part. I was done…I asked Sidney Poitier ten years ago, does he want to do any more work, and he said, ‘Why would I spend my last 10 years doing an impersonation of myself?’ And that’s what I’ve gotten to.”
He continued, “I’ve gotten to the point where now I’ve given the very best that I have as an actor. Now I’m enjoying watching other new talent come around, and I don’t want to do an impersonation of myself.”
20. In 2021, Liam Neeson told Entertainment Tonight, “I’m 68 and a half. 69 this year. There’s a couple more I’m going to do this year — hopefully, COVID allowing us — there’s a couple in the pipeline and, then I think that will probably be it.”
“Well, unless I’m on a Zimmer frame or something,” he said.
21. And finally, in 2022, Gary Oldman told the Sunday Times, “I’m 65 next year, 70 is around the corner. I don’t want to be active when I’m 80. I’d be very happy and honored and privileged to go out as Jackson Lamb [in Slow Horses] — and then hang it up.”
He also said, “I’ve had an enviable career, but careers wain, and I do have other things that interest me outside of acting. When you’re young you think you’re going to get round to doing all of them — read that book — then the years go by.”