Lost star Matthew Fox has explained why he left Los Angeles and moved to Italy.
Matthew Fox has explained why he moved to Italy
The 59-year-old actor – who became a huge star playing Dr. Jack Shepard in Lost from 2004 to 2010 – stepped away from his career on the small screen in 2015 and swapped his home in LA for a new life in Italy – and he’s now revealed he made the move so he could get out of the spotlight and spend more time with his wife, Margherita Ronchi, and their kids Kyle and Byron.
Matthew told PEOPLE: “I spent a lot of time, for a few years there [in Los Angeles], heavily in the spotlight, specifically with Lost, and then did a couple of years of doing films after that,” Fox said. “For me, the step away was more about spending time with my family …
“Our daughter was entering her teen years, and I had been on sets and also traveling around doing a lot of promotion for Lost. Margherita and I really felt like it was a great time for us to really, really focus on our kids that are going through the teen years, which is always a bit of a challenge.”
He went on to add: “When you’re in this business, I think it’s really good to carve out a place where you feel like you’re living life. I think that feeds the work you do when you reenter and take a gig.”
Matthew explained he was able to devote a lot more time to his hobby of flying and making music.
The actor has now made his major TV return in new Yellowstone spinoff The Madison. Reflecting on his hiatus, Matthew told Variety: “I felt like it was time to engage really intensely with my family.
“I had missed some of their childhood because I was on set all the time with Lost and doing films and promoting everything.
“It was the right moment for me to step back and take a moment and engage with the people that I love and care about the most in the world.”
Matthew’s first TV return came in Last Light in 2022, which was his first television role since Lost came to an end. He has since appeared in comedy show C*A*U*G*H*T before landing his role in The Madison, and he was quickly convinced by producer Taylor Sheridan to get on board.
He explained: “I kind of missed storytelling.”
The show, which sees Matthew play a bachelor thriving in the great outdoors, follows a New York City family who relocate to Madison River Valley in Montana after two relatives die in a plane crash. Michelle Pfeiffer is also part of the cast as matriarch Stacy Clyburn.
