Mark Wahlberg made a big change for his family.
The 51-year-old actor recently shared that he left California and moved to Nevada to give his four kids “a better life.”
When asked how he balances work and being a father he told “The Talk” co-host Sheryl Underwood, “That is the biggest challenge.”
“Every free moment that I have, I’m at home,” Wahlberg said during an Oct. 11 interview. “I want to be able to work from home. I moved to California many years ago to pursue acting and I’ve only made a couple of movies in the entire time that I was there,” he said of his decision to relocate.
Wahlberg and his wife, Rhea Durham share four children together: Ella, 19, Michael, 16, Brendan, 14, and Grace, 12.
“So, to be able to give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams, whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer,” he continued. “This made a lot more sense for us.”
The “Father Stu” star added that he wants to “build a state-of-the-art studio” in Nevada and “make this Hollywood 2.0.”
“We came here to just kind of give ourselves a new look, a fresh start for the kids,” he said, adding, “There’s lot of opportunity here. I’m really excited about the future.”
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, California's population declined for the first time ever. The Associated Press reported last year that more people have left California for other states than have moved there. Global lockdowns with fewer people entering the state, as well as declining birth rates and rise in the coronavirus deaths were a factor.
The pandemic, as well as home values dramatically increasing over the years with household incomes not keeping pace is also an issue, NBC News reported in April.
Of course, Wahlberg isn't the first celebrity to escape from the hustle and bustle of big cities. In May, Katy Perry revealed that she had moved her family to Kentucky.
The singer told Chelsea Handler on her “Dear Chelsea” podcast that it has been “quite an amazing experience” because “it reminds you that Hollywood is not America.”
She said the move made her “understand people better” and she, her 2-year-old daughter Daisy and fiancé Orlando Bloom live in a “bubble” that is “completely opposite” of Hollywood.