15 Celebrities Who Paused Their Career to Be a Stay-at-Home Parent

Candace Cameron Bure is back to having a busy work schedule, including multiple Hallmark Channel movies, but she took an extended break from acting when she had young children at home. Candace is a mother of three and has spoken out often about the important role that stay-at-home parents can play.

Actor Rick Moranis was in some of the most successful movies of the 1980s, including Spaceballs, Ghostbusters, and Little Shop of Horrors. In the 1990s, he was sadly widowed and stepped away from acting for more than 20 years to focus on raising his children as a single father. His pause seems to be coming to an end, as he is set to return to the big screen in 2023 for an updated version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Leelee Sobieski, now Leelee Kimmel, was a rising star after roles in high-profile films including Eyes Wide Shut and Never Been Kissed. She now describes herself as a retired actress because she chose to step away from that career when she became a mother of two. She's now living in New York and working as an artist, in addition to the mom life.

Elizabeth Hurley is internationally known for her modeling career and acting roles in movies such as Austin Powers, but many fans don't realize that she actually pulled back from public life to live on a farm and raise her son. Damian, who looks EXACTLY like his mom, is now an adult and working to follow in her famous modeling footsteps.

David Beckham, professionally good looking athlete, retired from English soccer in 2013. Since then, he's devoted himself to becoming a self-described "house husband" and stay-at-home dad to the four children he and wife Victoria Beckham share (while Victoria is busy running her successful fashion brand).

Another celebrity who has recently shared a desire to pause their career for a while is Ryan Reynolds. In December 2021, he revealed that he wants to take a sabbatical from acting. "The biggest thing for me is that I don't want to miss this time with my kids," he said.

Actress Poppy Montgomery, who starred in the series Without a Trace, took some time away from acting when her son was young, something she described as intense but meaningful. She's now a mother of three and has returned to work in both TV shows and TV movies.

Rhea Wahlberg (formerly Rhea Durham) was a sucessful model — including walking in the Victoria's Secret fashion show twice and appearing on the cover of major magazines — when she met and fell in love with Mark Wahlberg. The two now have four children, and Rhea gave up her modeling career to focus on their family.

Jamie Lynn Spears was working as a teen actress in the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101 when she became pregnant at the age of 16. Following the birth of her first child, daughter Maddie, and the cancellation of her show, she took a five-year-long break from acting and singing to focus on being a young mom.

Demi Moore, who is a mother of three daughters (now all grown), was working regularly when she opted to pull back from acting, move to Idaho, and raise her girls outside of Hollywood. In her 2019 autobiography, she shared how much she loved becoming a mom. "It's one of the few things I can confidently say I was innately good at. Having someone to love, who loved and needed me right back, unconditionally, exactly as I was, without any kind of performance, was euphoric."

Lauryn Hill was one of the most successful musical artists in the 1990s, both as a member of The Fugees and with her major solor album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, but she pulled back on her career signficantly as she grew her family. She is now the mother of six children, ages 11 to 25, who have been her primary focus for the last two decades.

Seemingly ageless actress Lisa Bonet is a mother to three children who she's focused on raising as screen-free and environmentally friendly as possible. While Lisa still has acted in a few projects since her big success on The Cosby Show and A Different World, she's been more focused on family life in recent years.

Shania Twain was one of the undisputed queens of country music but when she became a mom to son Eja, she not only took a break from the country scene, she moved to another country entirely! She raised her son in Switzerland and didn't produce music for several years. Now that Eja is an adult, she's returned to music, including doing a Las Vegas residency.

For people growing up in the 1980s, there may not have been a more iconic swimsuit than the little red bikini that Phoebe Cates wore in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The actress, who worked steadily in the years following that memorable moment, essentially quit acting in the 1990s to raise her children outside of Hollywood. She has stayed retired, married to actor Kevin Kline and living in New York state since then.

Busy Philipps is mother of two kids and has made career choices that let her ebb and flow between being a stay-at-home mom and working on some projects of her choosing. That balance is something she says she's super grateful for. "The fact is, maybe because I'm lucky enough to have a job that affords me the luxury of sometimes being a stay-at-home mom and sometimes working full-time, I'm able to appreciate both sides so completely," she said in December 2020.