Fact Check

Did Actor Rick Moranis Quit Acting to Raise His Children?

The beloved actor has been mostly out of the public eye for years.

Published May 28, 2021

Claim:
Rick Moranis left acting to raise his children after his wife died in 1991.

In a post dated May 27, 2021, a Reddit user posted a meme praising "Ghostbusters" actor Rick Moranis not just for his comedic on-screen presence, but also for his life choices: namely leaving Hollywood to raise his children after his wife died in 1991.


The meme is true. Moranis did star in the 1989 blockbuster "Honey I Shrunk the Kids." The Canadian actor also stated that he quit acting to raise his two children after his wife, Ann, died in 1991 from breast cancer. Moranis explained the decision in a 2005 interview with USA Today:

I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. I'm a single parent, and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it.

In the last few years I've been offered a number of parts in movies, and I've just turned them down. I don't know whether I'll go back to it or not. I've been doing a lot of writing and a lot of parenting, and now I'm doing this [music].

Moranis did come out of his long hiatus to make a Mint Mobile commercial with fellow Canada native Ryan Reynolds in September 2020.

Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for ... read more

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