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Alison Lohman is loving her post-Hollywood life.
Lohman, 43, opened up about her decision to stop acting in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter celebrating the 20th anniversary of her first big film White Oleander.
“I always wanted to have kids and a family, that was always a huge thing for me,” said Lohman in the interview published on Monday. “In a way, if someone does find out that I was an actress before, in a weird way, it’s kind of a bummer because they don’t see me anymore. The bubble bursts and I’m now an actress. I just want to be me.”
Lohman’s big break came after she portrayed Astrid Magnussen in 2002’s White Oleander, which also starred Renée Zellweger, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robin Wright.
She left acting in 2009 following the film Gamer, in which her now-husband Mark Neveldine served as co-director. After marrying, she and Neveldine walked away from fame to quietly start a family. The two, who celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in August, have since welcomed three children.
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Opening up about the height of her fame, Lohman admitted, “Initially, it was fine, you know, it was flattering. But, as an actor, there’s a certain amount of anonymity that I like to have. It’s hard to study people when they are looking at you.”
She shared, “I generally don’t like attention,” however, she added that her publicist told her she needed to “accept” it as a famous actress.
For her last film, Gamer, Lohman recalled meeting Neveldine on set, and the hilarious reaction he had when she showed up.
“It’s funny because he initially did not like me and didn’t want me for that part. I had these dreads at the time so he had another girl in mind. So, when I came in, he was like, “What is this girl doing here? We don’t want this girl in dreads. This is not going to work.” “
She added, “It’s so funny because that’s how it started. Even for myself, I didn’t understand the concept of the script but looking back on it now, it was way ahead of its time. It was a great experience though because I met Mark.”
As for what made her and Neveldine leave acting and film, she said that wasn’t the original plan. However, she was inspired after reading about a girl who owned a farm and loved to garden.
“It really started a little before that because when I was working on Flicka, we traveled through Wyoming and I had the thought that I didn’t want to live in L.A. anymore. I wanted to live in a place like that, in the countryside. That is probably another reason why that film left such a big impression,” she said.
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The pair ultimately bought a 200-acre farm in upstate New York, she said.
“It became like another role for me, but it was real life. It was so much fun.”
Their lives changed even more after they became parents “and it was so hard for me to get back into acting.”
“I would see all these other actresses being able to have kids and still work but I realized that it was not for me,” she told THR. “I miss it but I cannot do two things at once, in terms of juggling motherhood and my career. I decided that I would be a mother and raise them and maybe later, get back into acting.”
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For now, she is a virtual teacher via Skype, which she says “is really fun.”
“So I’m just waiting now to see how life unfolds without putting too much pressure on myself to control it or plan [what comes next].”
Considering her years away from Hollywood, Lohman said she “hardly ever” is recognized.
“The part that I do like about anonymity is when you meet someone and they don’t know who you are, they are so different towards you. That’s what you miss as a famous actor because people treat you so differently and it’s true. You’re not really going through what normal people go through because it’s so coddled and not real. And I have to be honest, I love it,” she said, adding that she wants to be treated like “anyone else.”
“It’s just real interactions and to be a good actor, you have to be able to experience and draw from these real moments.”
