25 Celebrity Recluses Who Stay Out Of The Spotlight

After he retired from The Late Show with David Letterman, David Letterman fell out of the spotlight quickly. He grew a beard and faded into a distant memory for a while. Many wondered what happened to the guy, thinking he maybe got depressed. Of course, he didn’t stay out of the spotlight for too long. He recently did a show for Netflix.

He’s been writing for decades but grew to general celebrity status when his book The Road became one of Oprah’s recommended books and his other book No Country for Old Men was made into a popular movie starring Josh Brolin. However, after that brief celebrity stint, he went back into hiding and fell off the map once again.

Despite being a superstar since the 80’s, Johnny Depp has taken great lengths to avoid the spotlight. He admits he hates attention and is a recluse. Today, he rarely leaves his house unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Though a huge pop star, Adele is rarely seen in the spotlight or doing promotion. She claims as a way to keep control of her former, unpopular self, she rejects promotional offers sent to her, like appearing for books, clothes, toys, and apps. She’s become well-known for being tough to contact and even though many have called her a recluse, she denies the label, saying she still goes out to do normal life activities.

The famous illustrator and author of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson, garnered vast popularity and awards, winning the prestigious Reuben Award three times. Despite having a rabid fan base in 1995, he decided to retire the comic out of frustration with the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels. Since then, he’s refused all commercialization of the characters and has strictly stayed out of the spotlight.

The famous lead singer of Guns N’ Roses became reclusive in the mid 90’s after his mother passed away. Though legendary in their own right, his band’s popularity had waned with the times. While out of the spotlight, he spent years working on a new album called Chinese Democracy. Sadly, after it was finally released and sales faltered, he went back to his reclusive ways.

Though he’s no longer with us, Prince will always be in our hearts. While he was still alive, he was notorious for his reclusive behavior. Legendary stories abound about how Prince would randomly come to nightclubs or parties and leave without saying a word. Most of the time, he hid away from the spotlight at his home in Minnesota.

After the Spider-Man trilogy wrapped, Tobey Maguire took a backseat to stardom and laid low for a while. He rarely gets cast in movies anymore and focuses more of his time on producing films rather than being in them.

A two-time Academy Award-winning actress, Cate Blanchett best knows how to play the role of the Hollywood star before drifting out of the spotlight, living a quiet life with her husband and three boys.

A Hollywood superstar for decades, somewhere around 2002, she started to slow down her career and focus on her personal life. At that time, she married cameraman Danny Moder in New Mexico, and they had three children together. She does about one movie a year and still relatively stays out of the spotlight.

Though he’s the highest paid James Bond actor of all time, Daniel Craig lives a relatively low key lifestyle in an apartment in New York’s East Village. He’s seen frequently wearing a hoodie and sneakers, trying not to attract any attention, afraid he’ll be spotted by fans that’ll want to take a selfie.

After starring in his own massively popular show, Dave Chapelle vanished. Few saw or heard from him for almost eight years as he retreated to his homes in South Africa and Ohio. Then, in 2013, he made a comeback, appearing on several shows and releasing his own stand-up comedy shows on Netflix. Still, he tries to keep a relatively low-key lifestyle.

A major rap sensation from 1999 to 2005, Eminem reshaped the music industry with five albums that sold over 50 million copies. But, in 2006, when his closest friend died, Eminem became very reclusive, closing himself off from the public and barely ever going outdoors. Since then, he’s made various appearances but still keeps things low-key and behind the scenes.

Though he passed away in 2005, during and after his long career, Johnny Carson was notorious for his shy and private lifestyle. He could turn on the charm for the cameras and then turn it off just as easily, keeping everyone at a distance. When his show came to an end, he practically disappeared off the face of the Earth.

Talented and enigmatic actor Joaquin Phoenix, who became grew to fame in the 90’s thanks to movies like Gladiator, first became reclusive in 2005 during his time in alcohol rehab. Later, he tried to disassemble his fame in 2010 with the faux-documentary I’m Still Here. Since then, he’s tried to stay away from the spotlight and avoids award ceremonies at all costs.

He’s made some of the best movies this century, like The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life, but avoids the spotlight like the plague. He never gives interviews, photo ops, or any kind of publicity for his movies. Not even when he was awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival did he show up to accept it.

Visionary and Academy Award-winning director Stanley Kubrick was notorious for keeping Hollywood at arm’s length, filming most of his movies in London. He was at heart, as Jack Nicholson said, a family man, and wanted those he loved around him while he created films without the pomp and spectacle of Hollywood. Overall, he was very successful at keeping a private life away from the spotlight.

Much like Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock doesn’t have social media accounts, stays away from publicity, and keeps a very private life with her boyfriend and kids. She rarely talks about her family and keeps everything strictly professional when promoting a movie.

She received five Grammy’s for her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998. After, however, she became a recluse and has yet to release a follow-up album. Her record label spent millions on recording sessions for a second album, and she was rumored to sing at Rock the Bells, but neither materialized.

A popular singing force during the 80’s and 90’s, Anita Baker kept relatively quiet when it came to interviews and publicity. While other singers would gladly do the publicity circuit, Baker shied away from it and pretty much disappeared from view until just recently.

Notorious for his private and reclusive lifestyle in South Dublin, multiple Academy Award-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis is very selective of his roles due to the amount of research and time he puts into them. Recently, he retired from acting after his latest film The Phantom Thread and lives a quiet life with his family on his 50-acre farm in County Wicklow.

This singer, songwriter takes the word reclusive to a whole new level. When performing on-stage or in a music video, she never shows her face, having hair cover it up entirely. She does it to keep some sanity in her life after she learned the hard way that too much stardom can have serious consequences. After going through a rehab program, she reinvented her career and became a songwriter for other artists before becoming a solo artist once again.

The synth-pop group Daft Punk does a similar thing to Sia, putting on robotic masks to hide their identities. Despite that, they still put out huge hits and collaborate with some of the biggest stars in the industry.

You probably haven’t heard of Thomas Pynchon, and that’s how he likes it. He’s actually a very famous writer in the literary world, his most well-known books including The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity’s Rainbow. He’s been writing since the 1950’s. Though his books have been made into movies, few people have actually seen his face since his youth. He’s avoided all media since his first novel and very little is actually known about him. The only time he appeared in pop culture was when he lent his voice for an episode of The Simpsons. Even then, they drew his character with a paper bag over his face.

A literary giant during his time, J.D. Salinger somehow achieved renowned status with a little body of work and a reclusive lifestyle. His work The Catcher in the Rye is infamous for its depiction of a disgruntled youth. First living in New York City, he became a recluse when he moved out to his 90-acre homestead in Cornish, New Hampshire.

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