When you think of someone as involved in the entertainment industry as actor and producer Ron Howard, you probably don’t imagine him living in rural Connecticut. But for a time during his life, particularly while his children were young, that’s precisely where he chose to call home.
Why?
Well, like most of those in Hollywood, Howard explained that he did once live in Los Angeles. But it became clear to him and his wife Cheryl quite early on that raising children in that environment was not ideal, at least not how he wanted them to be raised.
Howard, along with his now-adult and famous actress daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, explained to “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” that the change happened before Bryce was even in kindergarten. It was a normal day at preschool when Bryce recalls someone handing her a script to bring home to her father.
She said, “I think assuming that maybe then my dad would read it and somehow turn around and be like, ‘Yes! This is the movie I’m doing.’”
But the incident didn’t go over as planned.
Howard recalls becoming very concerned about the incident and what his children were and would be subjected to just by living in the home of the entertainment industry, where people everywhere were centered around making it big.
Already, he and Cheryl were hearing rumors about what was happening to other Hollywood children and the image that the city was imprinting on them.
And so, the family of six gathered their belongings and moved to a much quieter location.
Bryce describes growing up as a normal child, without all the fanfare and glittering lights of Hollywood.
“My parents were protective. They weren’t bringing me to premieres or anything like that. When we moved out to the East Coast… I was in nature, and I grew up on a farm, which was not really a farm. It was just some land with lots of pets.”
She added that her mom was “really strict,” and for good reason. Additionally, Bryce and her siblings were not given her parents’ money. Instead, they were encouraged to forge their own paths and make their own choices, knowing that at age 18, “we were going to need to take care of ourselves.”
As a result, Bryce and her siblings truly understand hard work and sacrifice, and they are better off for it.
