Elisha Cuthbert has spoken about taking a four-year retirement from acting to focus on her family. The actress said that she found it difficult to balance work and motherhood after continuing to film during the first years of raising her first child.
When she gave birth to her second child, Cuthbert decided to put her career on pause and spend more time at home. Now she returns to the screen with the upcoming Prime Video series “Every Year After.”According to ANI, Cuthbert spoke about her break during her recent appearance on the “Today” show. The actress of the series “24” and “The Girl Next Door” said that becoming a mother changed her outlook on work and made her reevaluate the time she wanted to spend away from her children.
Elisha Cuthbert talks about taking a break from acting
Cuthbert said she worked for the first four years of her eldest child’s life. Looking back, she said it was difficult to separate her responsibilities as a mother from her life as an actress.“I realized I had worked all four years through our first child,” Cuthbert said. “And it was hard to separate that mother from the working person that I was.”She and her husband, former NHL player Dion Phaneuf, have two children. After welcoming her second child, Cuthbert said she wanted to be fully present at home.
“So, when we got our second, I felt like I didn’t want to waste any second of it and I didn’t want to be on set,” she said.“I felt like I needed to be home with the kids and I enjoyed every minute,” the actor added.Cuthbert’s last major on-screen role before the break was in the Netflix comedy series “The Ranch.” She also appeared in the 2022 crime film “Bandit.”
“Every Year After” marks the return of Elisha Cuthbert
Cuthbert said her children are now in school full time, which has helped her feel ready to work again.
“They are now in school full time,” she said. “I feel like I have the space, energy and heart to let go and do this.”Her return comes with “Every Year After,” a coming-of-age drama based on Carly Fortune’s novel “Every Summer After.” Cuthbert plays Sue Florrick, Sam and Charlie’s mother.She said she had not read the Fortune books before joining the series. But after reading the novel, I became a fan of it. “It’s crazy because I haven’t read any of Carly’s books and then been on the show,” Cuthbert said. “Obviously I had the script, but I wanted to read the novel. And then I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a big fan now.’Cuthbert said the series seemed like the right project for her return to acting.