Joan Cusack was not cut out for the Los Angeles lifestyle.
The “Toy Story” actress explained why her dislike for the City of Angels sparked her decision to ditch Hollywood and stay rooted in Chicago with her family.
“I think a couple times I tried to go out to LA, and I’d be in a coffee shop and the waitress would be like, ‘Oh my God, I just got a part doing blah-blah-blah,’” she told People in an interview published Thursday.
“Everyone’s so beautiful. It’s too sunny,” Cusack added. “I don’t even like the sun, so I couldn’t do it.”
The 63-year-old star, who was born in New York City, noted that she’s “never lived anywhere” besides Chicago, where she chose to raise her two sons, Dylan, 29, and Miles, 26, with her husband, attorney Richard Burke.
But Cusack admitted she struggled balancing her Hollywood career with her low-key family life in Chicago, especially while starring in “Shameless” from 2011 to 2015.
“When [the boys] were younger, there was always that [struggle of] . . . ‘I should be home,’” she shared.
“And then I’d be home and I’d be like, ‘I should be at work,’” she added.
Cusack reprises her role as Jessie in “Toy Story 5,” her first major movie role since 2019’s “Toy Story 4.”
She attended the new film’s London premiere on May 28, marking her first red carpet in nearly 11 years.
Her husband and sons joined her for the movie’s LA premiere on June 9.
“In my life, I haven’t really done that many of those things,” she told People of the UK premiere. “I think I turned the corner with my husband and was like, ‘Whoa. What’s going on here?’”
“And then those guns popped the confetti out and I was like, ‘Whoa. What’s happening?’”
Cusack said red carpets are “not what I do” since she prefers to be out of the spotlight.
“I’ve been in Chicago raising my kids, which there’s nothing more important to me than that,” she explained. “And it’s been kind of crazy to be part of it, a red carpet thing.”
Cusack added, “I don’t even dress up that much.”
