Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars didn’t just leave America – they built new lives abroad. Their reasons may surprise you, and several say they’re happier where they are.

Some celebrities didn’t just leave – they found lives they say are better elsewhere. Amber Heard recently sparked fresh online discussion, Rosie O’Donnell has revealed the only condition under which she’d return, and Richard Gere says his family is “happier than ever.” These are the 15 stars who decided a new life abroad was the right move.

Pamela Anderson returned to Canada because she wanted to rebuild her life away from the public image that had followed her for decades.

Speaking to Better Homes & Gardens in 2024, Anderson said, “A few years back, I kind of gave up at some point and needed a change. I thought, ‘Well, I guess that’s just what people think of me.’ I was not in a good space when I moved back to Canada.”

She restored her grandmother’s property on Vancouver Island and found healing through gardening, calling it “a metaphor of putting my life back together.” The move marked a fresh chapter, allowing Anderson to reconnect with home while redefining her career on her own terms.

Shania Twain moved to Switzerland in the late 1990s seeking privacy, but the country became the backdrop for some of the biggest challenges of her life.

According to The Times, while living near Lake Geneva with then-husband Robert “Mutt” Lange, Twain battled Lyme disease, which damaged the nerves controlling her vocal cords and forced her away from music for years.

In 2008, her marriage ended after Lange had an affair with her close friend and assistant, Marie-Anne Thiébaud.

The heartbreak unexpectedly led Twain to Marie-Anne’s former husband, Frédéric Thiébaud. The two found comfort in one another after the betrayal and married in 2011, turning one of the darkest chapters of Twain’s life into a new beginning.