4 Celebs Who Said They'd Leave The Country If Trump Won But Failed To Follow Through

For the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections, a surprising number of celebrities said they would leave the country if Donald Trump won. Well, he succeeded with two of those three elections, yet most of the stars who should've been packing their bags decided to backtrack on what they said — or just act like anyone who believed them when they declared that was being ridiculous.

While many celebs actually have left the country after Trump won his recent term, including couple Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi, most of them are still living in America. A plethora of famous people have voiced their disdain for the president, whether through rants online, clever jokes, or even through song. But saying you don't support someone is much different than pledging, or giving serious consideration to, leaving the country because of that person.

It's also interesting that celebs are the people yelling so much about moving, since they clearly have the financials to do it. Whoopi Goldberg once said on "The View" back in 2016 (via The Hill), before Trump was elected the first time, "Maybe it's time for me to move, you know. I can afford to go." But the reason she is still here now is because of her contract with the talk show. What are other people's excuses?

In October 2023, pop superstar Cher told The Guardian she did not want the billionaire to rise to power again. "I almost got an ulcer the last time," she told the outlet. "If he gets in, who knows? This time I will leave [the country]." This mirrors her comments about Trump before he won his first term. She responded to a fan's question on X, formerly known as Twitter, who asked if she'd ever take a photo with Trump like she did with President Barack Obama. Cher gave that a hard no, and later responded to another X user's comment about leaving the U.S. Writing in all caps, Cher tweeted, "If he were to be elected, [I'm] moving to Jupiter."

Obviously there's some sarcasm in her comment, but she didn't go to Jupiter or anywhere else in 2016, and it doesn't look like it's going to be happening this time around, either. The reason, according to sources who spoke to the Daily Mail, has to do with her boyfriend, Alexander Edwards. Edwards has a young son named Slash whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Amber Rose, and Cher doesn't want to pull Edwards out of the country and away from Slash. "She did intend to leave the United States if Donald Trump got elected, but things are different now than they were one year ago," the source said. "She gave that interview before she was so committed."

The "Orange Is the New Black" star and LGBT activist told Variety right after Donald Trump won again that she and some of her fellow transgender friends were concerned about the future of their country and how it will treat transgender people. "We're doing research on different cities in Europe and in the Caribbean," she told the outlet.

Cox also thought the second Trump term would echo the Weimar Republic, a period in German history that took place after World War I, but before the Nazis rose to power in World War II. "There was a thriving community of queer people in Berlin pre the rise of Nazism. They attacked Jewish folks. They attacked immigrants, they attacked queer and trans people," she said.

It's understandable why the Daytime Emmy award winner is worried about her own safety as a transgender woman, considering how the president has been treating transgender people in his first weeks in office. But, as of now, Cox remains stateside.

A few months before the 2024 election, Sharon Stone told the Daily Mail that if Donald Trump were to win again, she'd probably move to Europe. "I am certainly considering a house in Italy. I think that's an intelligent construct at this time," the mother of three said. "This is one of the first times in my life that I've actually seen anyone running for office on a platform of hate and oppression."

But Trump's second term as POTUS is here, and Stone continues to live in America. In late January 2025, the "Basic Instinct" star shared a photo to Instagram of her wearing a fiery red dress to an event supporting the American Heart Association. "It's good to have a leg up in NYC," she captioned the pic of herself standing in an elevator, showing off her legs for days. But last time we checked, New York City was located in the U.S., not Europe.

In November 2023, a year before the election, Barbra Streisand said on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert"' that she would be exiting the U.S. if Donald Trump won a second term. "I will move. I can't live in this country ... if he became president," she said. When asked where she'd venture off to, "The Way We Were" singer shared she had her sights on Europe. "Probably to England. I like England."

Streisand has been a vocal critic of Trump for years. She's written articles about why Trump should not be elected Commander in Chief, first for HuffPost in 2016 and then Variety in 2020. In the latter, she called him "a one-man weapon of mass destruction," and told readers, "We can't go on like this. It's too dangerous." She's never shied away from making brutal jabs about Trump, which is why it's interesting she hasn't moved to England yet.