Chad Michael Murray admitted that he wished to disappear after starring in One Tree Hill and experiencing skyrocketing fame. Speaking to Interview Magazine, Murray admitted that he “one hundred percent” wanted to quit acting after the show. “There was a moment where I was quitting. I was done. I just couldn’t do it anymore,” he said in the article published on Wednesday, December 11.
However, the reason he wanted to quit was not because of the fandom; it was because he wanted to protect his formidable years. “When you’re 18 to 25, these formidable years where you’re really cutting your teeth on life experiences and your brain isn’t fully developed, you make mistakes,” he said.
The Freaky Friday star believed that he was not adult enough to understand the scenarios he was in. Murray was 21 during the sitcom’s first season, which spanned nine successful seasons. At the time, the actor admitted that he was struggling to live a normal life with too much public attention on his every move.
“That was hard for me because there are so many eyeballs on you. You go to the grocery store, and someone points at you, ‘Oh, that’s the guy that’s on the tabloid,’ or ‘That’s the guy that did this,’” he said, as per Page Six.
Murray admitted that he started going into a negative space because of that and finally decided to put his foot down and step away for good. “I just made a big pivot at that point in my life and said, ‘You know what? This is not what I want,’” he recalled.
Apart from navigating his life, the actor had to handle his relationship with One Tree Hill co-star Sophia Bush amidst rising fame. The couple tied the knot in 2005 when they were both 23 and called it quits five months into the marriage.
Ten years later, Murray got married to now-wife Sarah Roemer and welcomed three kids: a 9-year-old son, a 6-year-old daughter, and another daughter they welcomed in August 2023. “My goal in life is to just be a great father, a great husband,” the actor said. Although he loves being an actor, the real “grassroots thing” for him comes from being a family man.
