Why Jason Segel Ditched Hollywood At His Professional Peak

For a moment in time, actor Jason Segel was unavoidable in Hollywood. But, at the height of his professional peak, the "How I Met Your Mother" star disappeared completely. Realizing he hadn't had a break in years, Segel decided to move to Ojai, California. In an interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" he shared, "I was like 'Oh, I can do whatever I want now, and I'm going to go live in this town. And I never left," (via YouTube). 

When the hit show ended, the actor relocated to a charming stone cottage ensconced in a scenic orange grove. Whereas this transition came as a surprise to many fans, it felt like a necessary and natural next step for the "Sky is Everywhere" star. As Segel admitted to the Los Angeles Times, "I had a big, successful TV show and a bunch of hit movies, some of which I had written [...] You're supposed to feel great. And I was really unhappy." 

Thus, as the lovable star reasoned, "That's a very scary place to be when everyone's telling you that this is as good as it gets." Instead of wallowing in negativity, Segel took action and made a change.

At the very height of his fame, it suddenly dawned on Jason Segel that he didn't have the requisite life experience to take his craft to where he wanted it to be, explaining that living in Los Angeles was akin to "never leaving campus" during his chat with the LA Times. Segel was totally overworked from doing "How I Met Your Mother" for so long while also filming his own personal projects back to back, and it slowly dawned on the actor that it was stagnating his artistic pursuits. During an appearance on "Today," he acknowledged, "I realized that art is supposed to be a reflection of what you're going through, and I actually wasn't going through much life-wise," (via YouTube).

Moving to a small town gave him the opportunity to slow down and explore his interests which in turn helped the "Muppets" writer and lead to find a sense of calm while tapping into meatier material. Now acting and collaborating creatively on the hit show "Shrinking," alongside "Ted Lasso's" Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, Segel confessed that he couldn't have taken the role if he'd remained in the heart of Hollywood. 

Evidently, the "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" star needed to get out to the country so he wouldn't be stuck consistently scripting stories about "being afraid of girls," as he put it to Jimmy Kimmel. Segel also gets to enjoy the quiet life of attending the local Christmas plays and picking his own oranges. As he told the LA Times, "It's not moment-to-moment, unbridled joy. But it's like feeling good and satisfied and enough."