EXCLUSIVESource Reveals Michelle Pfeiffer Left Hollywood To 'Put Her Kids First' As Star Preps For New Role: 'People Don't Know How Hard It Was To Walk Away'
Dec. 31 2021, Published 12:01 a.m. ET
Coming Clean!
She was one of Hollywood’s hottest A-listers when she suddenly vanished from the big screen 20 years ago.
Now, as Michelle Pfeiffer prepares to return to the spotlight in her upcoming Showtime series, The First Lady, a source says the famously private star is opening up about why she put her career on pause.
“She quit the business because she wanted to put her kids first. But people don’t know how hard it was to walk away,” the source says of the Scarface beauty, 63, who fled Tinseltown for Northern California with writer-producer hubby David E. Kelley and their children, John, 27, and Claudia, 28.
“She was under huge pressure to keep the machine going because so many people were making money off her,” the source continues. “Michelle says a lot of folks in Hollywood warned her that she might never work again, which was a shock.”
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Thankfully, the Batman Returns actress had Kelley, whom she wed in 1993 after being set up on a blind date, firmly in her corner. The Big Little Lies creator, 65, “totally supported her stepping back,” shares the source. “She even says that the secret to their happy marriage is that they don’t mix business and pleasure. They love their low-key life together.”
The source says the Antman and the Wasp alum credits their maturity for helping their marriage stand the test of time. The actress “had lots of life experience when she married David,” explains the source. “She was 35, had already been married and divorced and had her pick of movie-star boyfriends and hot on-set hookups.”
Over the years, there had been rumors linking Pfeiffer to the likes of Kevin Costner, Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer, and “word is she’s finally admitted to friends that a lot of the romances did happen,” the source dishes. “But she has no regrets because it all led to David, who’s the love of her life!”
