Elisha Cuthbert opened up about stepping away from acting for four years to focus on her family. The actor said that he found it difficult to balance work and motherhood after continuing to film in the early years of raising his first child. When she had her second child, Cuthbert decided to put her career on hold and spend more time at home. He is now back on screen with the upcoming Prime Video series ‘Every Year After’.According to ANI, Cuthbert spoke about her breakup during a recent appearance on the ‘Today’ show. The ’24’ and ‘The Girl Next Door’ actor said becoming a mother has changed her outlook on work and reassessed the time she wants to spend away from her children.
Elisha Cuthbert to take a break from acting
Cuthbert said she worked the entire first four years of her older son’s life. Looking back, he said it was difficult to separate his responsibility as a parent from his life as an actor.“I realized I had been working all four years through our first child,” Cuthbert said. “And it’s hard to separate that mother from my working person.”She and her husband, former NHL player Dion Phaneuf, have two children. After welcoming their second child, Cuthbert said she wanted to be completely at home.“So, when we had our second, I felt like I didn’t want to waste any second of it and I didn’t want to be on the set,” he said.The actor added, “I just felt like I needed to be at home with the kids and I enjoyed every minute.”Cuthbert’s last major screen role before the break was in the Netflix comedy series ‘The Ranch’. He 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’re in school now full time,” he said. “I felt like I had the space and the strength and the heart to leave them and do it.”Her comeback comes with ‘Every Year After’, a coming-of-age drama based on Carley Fortune’s novel ‘Every Summer After’. Cuthbert plays Sue Florek, Sam and Charlie’s mother.He said he had not read Fortune’s books before joining the series. But after reading the novel, he became a fan. “It was crazy because I had never read any of Carley’s books and then I got on the show,” Cuthbert said. “Obviously there was a script, but I wanted to read the novel. And then I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a superfan now.'”Cuthbert said the series felt like the right project for her return to acting.
