Glen Powell Explains Decision To Leave Hollywood, Move Home to Texas

Glen Powell is one of Hollywood's biggest male stars, but at heart, he's still a Texan.

Powell, 37, was born and raised in Austin and attended the University of Texas at Austin before dropping out. He recently made the decision to move out of Tinseltown and return to his roots.

In a new interview with Variety, Powell explained why he chose to relocate.

'You can’t ever sign off of that app'

According to Powell, he was looking for a "spiritual place" to decompress and get away from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood.

“I needed a spiritual place where I could hang my hat and truly be unplugged,” Powell explained. “If you live in LA…where everyone is sort of a part of this thing, you can’t ever sign off of that app.”

While home, Powell has continued his pursuit of his undergraduate degree from UT.

“I literally just paid my tuition two days ago for next semester,” he said.

Powell always wanted to return to Texas

As the Anyone but You star previously explained in a 2024 interview with USA TODAY shortly after he moved back home, living in Hollywood was never meant to be a permanent thing.

"The goal was always whenever I got enough traction out in LA that I could return home," Powell said. "I've always kept a place here in Austin, but I finally got the place that I really wanted. My parents just turned 70 and you want to enjoy every moment you have near your family.

"It's really fun to be around people that love movies and love the business. However, sometimes that echo chamber can be not so great for you on the mental health level. When all you do is consume movies and entertainment, you could become a little self-aware and maybe derivative of yourself. Your personal life, there's no sort of freedom there, there's storytelling around that, and I feel like that's just not good for you on the long term."

No slowing down for Powell's career

The pace of life in Texas is undoubtedly calmer than in LA, but Powell's star status is only growing.

His starring role in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick jumpstarted things, leading to Hitman and Anyone but You in 2023 and Twisters last year. Powell's latest project, a remake of The Running Man, just landed in theaters last week.

In between, he's also been the main character in the Hulu series Chad Powers and has hosted Saturday Night Live. There's also speculation he could be the next man up in the James Bond series.

“Anyone who believes that they’re going to be top dog forever has not studied how Hollywood works,” Powell told Variety. “So the best that you can do is really work as hard as you possibly can. Make things that you believe in, treat people well, and hope that you leave the world with some classic things that they can continue watching for years to come.”