Josh Hartnett left Hollywood after struggling with 'borderline unhealthy' attention from fans

Josh Hartnett put his peace of mind over his career years ago when he discreetly left Hollywood in the pursuit of a quieter lifestyle.

The "Trap" star turned down two major superhero movie roles during the peak of his stardom. Shortly after earning a minor role in the 1999 cult classic Sofia Coppola hit, "The Virgin Suicides," Hartnett broke into the film world in a major way, starring in nine movies alone in 2001, including "Pearl Harbor" and "Black Hawk Down."

When it came to pinpointing a specific reason why Hartnett stepped back from the spotlight, he told The Guardian there wasn't a linear distinction between "happy Josh and unhappy Josh."

"People’s attention to me at the time was borderline unhealthy," Hartnett said.

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When asked to clarify whose attention, he added, "Well, look, I don’t want to give this a lot of weight. There were incidents. People showed up at my house. People that were stalking me."

Hartnett was 27 years old when, "a guy showed up at one of my premieres with a gun, claiming to be my father. He ended up in prison."

He added, "There were lots of things. It was a weird time. And I wasn’t going to be grist for the mill."

The "Oppenheimer" star now spends his time between the United Kingdom and the states, although he's living in the UK on a marriage visa which only allows him to leave the country for a maximum of 180 days per year. 

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Hartnett began dating British actress Tamsin Egerton in 2012 after meeting on set, and the couple secretly married in 2021. 

"This is all brand new to me," he said of his mostly anonymous life in Hampshire. "I never would have expected it. And time passes quickly. With four children, you have so much to do. In a way, less is happening. But more of the important stuff is happening."

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He added, "My oldest daughter is eight and a half now – that feels like it happened in the last two years to me. So I’m trying to soak up as much as possible."

Hartnett never gave up his love for acting, but stepped back from the spotlight which blinded so many. He left Los Angeles, moved back to his home state of Minnesota, and pursued more challenging, yet smaller projects. 

"I just didn’t want my life to be swallowed up by my work," he said. "And there was a notion at that time you just kind of give it all up. And you saw what happened to some people back then. They got obliterated by it. I didn’t want that for myself."

Hartnett has a number of projects in the works, including "The Long Home" directed by James Franco, the action thriller "Fight or Flight," and "The Last Draw of Jack Hearts."

Escaped Florida felon who allegedly faked injury screams in agony as K-9 drags him from hiding spot in woods

A Florida inmate who faked a fall injury in an effort to escape was dragged by a law enforcement K-9 kicking and screaming from the thick underbrush where he was hiding, authorities said Sunday. 

Anthony Romine, 29, was found Saturday in a wooded area by a gas station in Flagler County after being tracked by a Flagler County Sheriff's K-9 team. 

He was hiding underneath some foliage and underbrush, the sheriff's office said. 

His capture came seven hours after his escape. Video footage of the arrest shows a K-9 dragging Rommie, who was screaming in pain. 

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The footage appears to show the dog dragging Romine by his arm.

"Get him please!" he's heard pleading to the deputies, who kept warning Romine to "stop biting my dog!."

"Alright, I'll go," Romine says. 

At one point, he appears to be crying when a deputy asks: "You thought you were going to get away?" During his brief escape, authorities received multiple calls on possible sightings of Romine, the sheriff's office said. 

Romine was initially arrested on July 3 on a felony warrant for petty theft, violation of his pre-trial release and counterfeiting. He was in jail when he claimed he fell before being taken to the hospital for treatment, the sheriff's office said. 

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Investigators later determined he faked his injury in an effort to escape and return to Ohio, where he is originally from, authorities said. 

"We worked until we got him. I commend our team for staying on his trail, and the community for 'seeing something, saying something' until this dirtbag was captured," said Flager County Sheriff Rick Staly. "All he accomplished was to add additional arrests to his list of crimes and got bitten by our K-9, who gets a special treat for taking 'a bite out of crime' when he tried to flee again. Fortunately, no one was hurt except this dirtbag who was crying after he was caught by our K-9." 

After his capture, felony escape was added to the list of charges against Romine, as well as battery on a law enforcement officer without violence. 

Staly said an investigation will be opened to determine how the deputy assigned to Romine became distracted, which led to the escape. 

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