You Can't Fire Them, They Quit! 15 Stars Everyone Forgets Officially Retired
![You Can't Fire Them, They Quit! 15 Stars Everyone Forgets Officially Retired](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/3/775153_320x180.jpg)
Stars! They’re just like us! In that they also feel burnt out or tired of working in their field. While the glitz and glamor of celebrity can be attractive for a time, it can also be very exhausting. There are some folks that just want to go back to living as regular people, due to being tired of being recognized, tired of having every move criticized by the media, or just being tired in general. Some celebrities have been in the limelight for multiple decades. Others have been actors, musicians, etc. since they were kids. We all need to know when to say “no.”
Sometimes the best thing a person can do for their own mental and physical health is to just quit. However, we often forget which celebrities are actually retired or are just in the “Where Are They Now?” portion in their lives before their next comeback.
Here are a few stars that have bowed out of the limelight due to their own volition.
![Robert Redford He actually has taken a couple small cameo and VO roles since then, but he felt retirement calling after 2018's The Old Man & The Gun: I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me... I've been doing it since I was 21.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/9/775159.jpg)
Source: People
![Cameron Diaz She's been out of the acting game, and committed to the author-and- activist racket, since 2014. She only kinda-s made that official in 2018, when she casually mentioned to EW that she's actually retired.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/9/775169.jpg)
Source: EW
![Shirley Temple The little girl who somehow became famous for having red hair in the black-and-white era ducked out of the biz at the age of 22. She went on to have a pretty impressive political career, scooping up ambassadorships to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/1/775161.jpg)
Source: Smithsonian
![Daniel Day-Lewis CRACKED COM We've had false alarms before, but his current retirement, effective since 2017, seems pretty permanent. He released a statement that he will no longer be working as an actor, nor would he make any further comment on this subject.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/7/0/775170.jpg)
Source: People
![Portia de Rossi CRACKED COMI She explained on Ellen in 2018 that she tried to duck out of Arrested Development season 5, and successfully quit Scandal, to focus on her 3D-printed art publishing company. Ellen then raked her over the coals, calling her smart as can be and easy on the](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/8/775168.jpg)
Source: Yahoo
![Gene Hackman WWW NELG T CRACKED Hackman's had a prolific second career as a novelist. He took his last (non-Vo) role in 2006, and finally said in 2008 I haven't held a press conference to announce retirement, but yes, I'm not going to act any longer.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/4/775164.jpg)
Source: Reuters
![Jack Nicholson CRACKED.COM He denies reports that he's bowed out due to memory loss. In fact, according to him, the only thing he's retired from is hitting on chicks, because it doesn't feel right dating women his own age. Cool!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/5/775165.jpg)
Source: CinemaBlend
![Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen CRACKED COM The most famous pizza-eating twins in the world officially tapped out of the biz in 2004. They came tantalizingly close to joining the cast of Fuller House in 2015, but ultimately decided it'd been too long since they'd been on camera.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/2/775162.jpg)
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
![Jack GLEESoN It brings us no joy to report that the GOT fandom... may be toxic. When King Joffrey became the most hated character on television, Gleeson started catching a lot of flack from fans IRL. That probably contributed to his falling out of love with his craft: I](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/6/775166.jpg)
Source: EW
![Sean Connery Connery famously loathed working on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, saying that idiots now making films in Hollywood drove him to quit. He later had a less bitter take on the whole thing, declining to appear in Crystal Skull because retirement is just too much damned fun.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/7/775167.jpg)
Source: BBC
![Greta Garbo GO GAY WITH GARDOCRACKEDCOM GARRO She was on track to become one of the most prolific and beloved actors in the history of film. But after her 1941 romcom Two-Faced Woman fully bombed, she went on a temporary hiatus that... slowly became quite permanent.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/3/775163.jpg)
Source: NYTimes
![Amanda Bynes To the untrained eye, it looked like Bynes finally lost her cool after years of the unique presures of child stardom. But in fact, it was an active choice to retire: If I don't love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don't love acting anymore, so](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/6/0/775160.jpg)
Source: EW
![Elton John OO If we're lucky, Elton John isn't truly retired just yet. He promised to hang up his... .piano after a 3-year farewell tour, which was cut short by a bout of pneumonia followed by a global pandemic. As of now, he plans to pick it back up](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/7/775157.jpg)
Source: NPR
![Frankie Muniz Muniz has better things to do, like drumming in indie bands and straight-up racing BMWS. We know he's through acting because he once told a trolt on Twitter being retired with $40,000,000 at 19 has not been awful. Good luck with moving out of your mom's house](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/6/775156.jpg)
Source: Twitter
![Jonathan Taylor Thomas JTT got tired of being a heartthrob, and decided to become a brainthrob instead. He went off to Harvard and Columbia, and hasn't acted since 2015.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/8/775158.jpg)
Source: People