Celebrities are fleeing the crumbling state of California in droves. And why wouldn’t they? Taxes are sky-high, crime is out of control, and Governor Gavin Newsom has taken a beautiful state with a budget surplus and turned it into a liberal hellscape, deeply in debt. In short, it isn’t good.
Businesses and regular people are also running away from the Golden Coast. Corporations are absorbing record losses due to theft, with local law enforcement and district attorneys unwilling to put and keep criminals in jail. With such restrictive regulations, corporations are fleeing to red states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida.
One of the higher-profile celebrities to leave California is Mark Wahlberg. The “Father Stu” actor fled to Las Vegas, Nevada, in order to raise his kids in a more conventional manner. He has since raved about Nevada and is planning to build a movie studio in the Nevada desert.
Recently, the popular Christian actor talked about his long-term plans and how he might not be acting much longer. He said: “Well, I’m certainly working harder now than ever. Certain businesses, you kind of build them, pass them on, or you exit. Hopefully, my kids, we’ll see what their interests are, but I don’t think that I’ll be acting that much longer at the pace I am now.”
Wahlberg isn’t just an actor. He is also an entrepreneur, owning a chain of burger restaurants, and he has a past as a musician, albeit not one he prefers to discuss. He is also a fitness buff, and his workout regimen is the stuff of legends.
Wahlberg has also learned to produce as well. Rather than wait for roles to open up when other actors would pass, he learned to produce so he could have more control over his career. He said: “I started producing out of necessity. The reason why I started producing was because I didn’t want to sit around waiting for Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise or whoever was already established before me and were the guys at the time, and Leo [DiCaprio] … to go and pass on a movie until I could get my hands on it.”
Wahlberg decided that being proactive was the way to get ahead in Hollywood, and producing was his vehicle. “So, I was always proactive in trying to find material … and things that I could produce that I knew were right for me and create my own destiny. You know, create a vehicle and an opportunity and a path for me to get to where I wanted to be – and have control.”
The “Boogie Nights” actor reflected on the movie that made him a household name. He continued: “When I first heard about the film, the subject matter was not appealing to me. I came from the whole Marky Mark thing, pulling down my pants, Calvin Klein underwear – I didn’t know if this was just the next level of exploiting me and now all of a sudden we have to lose the underwear. My agents kept pushing me. So, I read the first 25, 30 pages, and I kind of put it down. I was like this could be something great or this could be absolutely terrible.”
As it turned out, the movie was the perfect vehicle to launch Wahlberg into the zeitgeist and cement his status as a superstar. Now, years later, Wahlberg is planning his departure from acting.
While Wahlberg is focusing on the future in terms of raising his kids and developing his production company, he doesn’t plan to disappear entirely. He admitted what he really wants in the next chapter of his career: “Working with some of the other great talents; working with the next batch of great talent.”
Mark Wahlberg made the hard decision to leave Hollywood for an oasis in the Nevada desert, and he plans to help out the next generation of Hollywood stars. His career isn’t over, even if it is moving from in front of the camera to behind it.
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