Being a good father to his kids meant so much to him, probably because he grew up without knowing what it meant to have a father.
Back in the '90s, Freddie Prinze Jr. was a force to reckoned with. He was everywhere, and girls fawned over him and his boyish charm. He created a storm with movies like She's All That, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Scooby-Doo.
At the height of his fame, he started dating Buffy The Vampire Slayer star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and they went on to become one of the coolest and most sought after couple in the industry. But soon after, it seemed like he was slowly fading away, per Bustle.
His stardom fizzled away and people soon started focusing on other people. From being considered as someone to remain in the industry a long time to slipping away without a word, Freddie Prinze Jr. had a rise and a fall.
According to Goalcast, there may be a few reasons for the actor's downfall, starting with the fact that he was typecast as a typical heartthrob. He didn't get roles that would let him expand his horizon and experiment with his acting. But, he did stick to his image and rolled out a few box office hits. However, the real reason he left his career in acting is not because of movies or roles, it's for a rather unexpected, but very heartwarming reason.
You see, soon after dating Gellar, the two got married and he prepared himself for a new role in his life—that of a father. With that in mind, he decided to intentionally take a break from acting. In a 2020 PEOPLE interview, Prinze explained why. “I had kids and not having a dad, it was always more important to me to be a present father,” he said, referencing his father’s death when he was a baby. He added that he doesn’t miss acting at all. “The business had changed so much, nothing filmed in LA anymore, but maybe four or five projects a year.”
Being a good father to his kids meant so much to him probably because he grew up without knowing what it meant to have a father. He was only 10 months old when his father, comedian Freddie Prinze, died by suicide after shooting himself in the head. “My old man taught me a lot of stuff in his death that I don’t even know if he would have been able to teach me had he been alive,” he said in 1999, per Chicago Tribune.
But does he ever regret giving up acting? "Yeah, I didn't miss it at all when I walked away," he said.
It's really nice to see a man take a step back for the sake of their family, because it's honestly quite rare to see something like this, especially in the industry.
References:
https://www.goalcast.com/freddie-prinze-jr-what-happened-after-success/
https://people.com/movies/freddie-prinze-jr-didnt-miss-acting-walked-away/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-01-28-9901280238-story.html
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Theo Wargo
