Ian Somerhalder says the collapse of a television project helped persuade him to walk away from acting and build a more family-centered second act outside Hollywood.
“So I pulled the plug. That was it. I walked away,” Somerhalder said on the “Haley On the Go” podcast, according to Page Six’s account of the episode. He described the choice as a decision to protect the direction of his own life rather than keep chasing a career path that no longer felt sustainable.
The 47-year-old actor connected that decision to the fate of V WARS, the 2019 Netflix series he starred in and produced. He said he and producing partner James Gibb had poured time and money into the project, only to see it end after a conflict over creative control.
“You give everything, and then the show was a hit,” Somerhalder said, recalling that the series reached No. 1 in 103 of 120 territories. “The execs were fighting, and someone quietly canceled the show,” he added.
Those statements reflect Somerhalder’s own recollection of a difficult professional experience, not an independent account from Netflix. Still, he made the larger point plainly: he no longer wanted other people’s corporate decisions to determine the direction of his career and livelihood.
“These executives are b****** at each other, and I’m like, are you kidding me? Done. I’m out,” he said. “That’s really the honest, kind of controversial way of why I walked away from the business.”
Related: Why Actor Ian Somerhalder Traded Hollywood for Farm Life
Somerhalder has spoken before about the pressure that accompanied his shift from television to entrepreneurship. In an April interview with E! News, he said that he “retired from acting seven years ago” after financial upheaval tied to a business he said he had not built properly.
He told E! News that the setback put him and his wife, actress Nikki Reed, into “an eight-figure hole.” The couple sold personal assets, he said, while Reed helped negotiate their way out of the crisis.
That chapter gives his new comments a little more texture. Somerhalder is not presenting his departure as a simple rejection of acting; he is describing a hard reset shaped by creative disappointment, business risk and a desire to choose what comes next with greater care.
His attention now sits largely on ventures outside the soundstage, including farming with his wife and children.
“It’s a lot of work,” he told Fox News. “[But] that’s how I grew up, right here in Louisiana. For me, it gives me a sense of balance.”
For audiences who knew Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on THE VAMPIRE DIARIES or Boone Carlyle on LOST, the update may feel surprising. Yet his comments point toward a familiar truth: public success does not remove the need for wise boundaries, faithful relationships and a life that can hold more than work.
Somerhalder has not announced a new acting project or a return to the role that made him famous. For now, he appears content to keep his Hollywood chapter in the rearview mirror and devote his energy to family and the businesses he has chosen to build.
Read Next: VAMPIRE DIARIES Actor Calls Farm Life ‘More Gratifying’ Than Acting Career
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
