Let’s be real, Hollywood lives for comebacks. We can’t get enough of a fallen star rising again. But nearly as often, the ones that linger in our minds are the tales of actors, musicians, and icons who slipped quietly out of the limelight, or were pushed without fanfare or fuss. Sometimes the whys are heartbreaking, astonishing, but nearly always profoundly human. Here’s a countdown of 10 celebrities who vanished from the limelight for reasons much more devastating than declining popularity.
10. Bridget Fonda
During the ’90s, there was Bridget Fonda everywhere from indie cults to mainstream box office champs. Then? Crickets. She quit acting, and although the reasons were never officially disclosed, her disappearance was felt. To her fans, her tale serves as a reminder that sometimes the hardest battles rage outside of the light.
9. Rick Moranis
Rick Moranis made us laugh into oblivion in Ghostbusters and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. But when his wife died of cancer, he prioritized family over fame. As a solo father, he stepped away from Hollywood to raise his kids. Though he’s flirted with a comeback now and then, his choice demonstrates how loss can totally realign priorities.
8. Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser was the quintessential adventure hero once, starring in The Mummy and other franchises. Behind the glamour, his personal life imploded, with tunt-related health issues, an acrimonious divorce, the loss of his mother, and reports of blacklisting for complaining about assault. He was gone for years. Fortunately, the “Renaissance” awakened him with a vengeance, capped by his Oscar win for The Whale.
7. Jet Li
Jet Li dominated both Eastern and Western films with his martial arts mastery. But his career lagged after he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, an ailment that made him weak. Factor in his dedication to charity work, and acting was relegated to the sidelines. Although he made a comeback in Disney’s Mulan, his gravity-defying fight scenes are in the past.
6. Thora Birch
Thora Birch was unforgettable in Ghost World and American Beauty. But her career went wrong in large part because of her father, who also served as her manager, gaining a reputation for difficult and disruptive behavior. He cost her jobs, even getting her fired from an off-Broadway play. Birch subsequently walked away, earned a degree, and has only recently begun reappearing on her own terms.
5. Amanda Bynes
Nickelodeon legend and teen comedy favorite Amanda Bynes was unstoppable in the early 2000s. Behind the camera, though, she was fighting addiction, run-ins with the law, and mental illness. By 2013, she was under a conservatorship. While she’s since concentrated on well-being, her acting career hasn’t resumed yet.
4. Eliza Dushku
Darling as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eliza Dushku’s career took an abrupt stop a few years ago after she went on record about harassment on the set of CBS’s Bull. Rather than being protected, she was quietly removed from the show after a handful of episodes. She eventually got a settlement, but the aftermath averted her Hollywood momentum.
3. Jennette McCurdy
Jennette McCurdy was a staple on Nickelodeon, but her private life told a much darker story. Pushed into the industry by her mother, she endured years of emotional abuse, unhealthy pressures, and trauma that left lasting scars. After her mother’s death, she quit acting altogether and later told her story in the best-selling memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died.
2. Sly Stone
The funk icon behind Sly and the Family Stone was atop the music world once. Fame, however, clashed with addiction, and all fell apart. The group disbanded, and Stone himself descended into poverty, at one time living in a van. He mounted a small comeback in 2011, but his is a cautionary tale of success’s dark underside.
1. Mena Suvari
Number one is Mena Suvari, who became an overnight sensation with American Pie and American Beauty. But with her shining career, she was fighting trauma, drugs, and abuse in her relationship. She shared in her book The Great Peace how those struggles put the brakes on her career when it was just about to take flight.
Hollywood glimmers with fame, money, and flashbulbs, but these tales show that beneath the glitter, real individuals are fighting heartbreak, trauma, and decisions that alter their lives for good. Fame may make stars shine brighter, but it cannot shield them from the life that deals its toughest punches.