Shelley Duvall Explains Why She Abandoned Hollywood For Rural Texas

Go back to the '80s and '90s, and Shelley Duvall was one of cinema's most exciting and engaging leading ladies. Just take a look at The Shining. However, the actor mostly disappeared off the map afterwards. What happened to her? Well, it turns out Duvall left Hollywood for rural Texas.

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A native of the state, Duvall retired to quiet living. While many of the locals know Duvall and her past as an actor, she mostly has been able to live in anonymity. Visitors may be surprised that Duvall is the same actor who once starred in more than 20 movies. Duvall explained that she stepped away from Hollywood to be with family. In the late '90s her prospects as an actor began to dry up. At the same time, her brother battled spinal cancer. She decided to move back to Texas to be with her brother and family.

 "It's the longest sabbatical I ever took," she says, "but it was for really important reasons—to get in touch with my family again." However, she didn't completely leave behind the joys of being an entertainer.

Duvall also opened up about the circular nature of Hollywood. She said that she was shocked when the industry suddenly turned on her after supporting her for so many years. It became a real wake-up call to her.

Shelley Duvall Lives in Texas

"I was a star; I had leading roles," she said. "People think it's just aging, but it's not. It's violence. How would you feel if people were really nice, and then, suddenly, on a dime ... they turn on you? You would never believe it unless it happens to you. That's why you get hurt, because you can't really believe it's true."

However, her longterm partner Dan Gilroy said that Duvall has also battled mental illness through the decades as well. He said they moved when an earthquake destroyed their L.A. home.

"It was great, all those years in L.A., really terrific. And when we moved, after the earthquake, it was terrific in Texas. Things went downhill when she started becoming afraid of things, maybe didn't want to work. It's really hard to pin it on any one thing," he said.

"She became paranoid and just kind of delusional, thinking she was being attacked. She tried to make calls to the F.B.I., and asked our neighbor to protect us," he continued. "It was just shocking that, suddenly, from normal, it went south like that."