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‘I Wish I’d Done That’: Rachel McAdams Explains Why She Turned Down Multiple Box Office Hits

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Leena Nasir Entertainment Reporter
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Famous actress Rachel McAdams looked back at some very big movie roles she declined to take on, and expressed some regret despite knowing she made the right choice at the time.

McAdams immediately launched to fame with the 2002 comedy “The Hot Chick,” alongside Rob Schneider and Anna Faris. She went on to take roles in a series of wildly successful films including “Mean Girls” (2004), “The Notebook” (2004) and “Wedding Crashers” (2005).

The actress made it to the top, then did something very unconventional — she walked away from Hollywood. “There were definitely some anxious moments of wondering if I was just throwing it all away, and why was I doing that? It’s taken years to understand what I intuitively was doing,” McAdams told Bustle.

She refused to do nude scenes and photoshoots at a time when many other actresses were putting it all on display for the sake of their careers, according to Bustle. That ultimately led McAdams to take a two-year break, from which she came back stronger than ever.

The actress set boundaries for herself that were considered “unconventional” by Hollywood’s standards and was often talked about in terms of what she refused to do, rather than what she would do, Bustle noted.

McAdam’s recalled walking off the set of  the 2006 Vanity Fair cover because her female co-stars Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley agreed to pose nude for celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, but she wasn’t on board with the idea, according to Bustle.

Soon after, McAdams left Hollywood behind completely and returned to her life in Canada. She turned down roles in “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Casino Royale,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “Iron Man” and “Get Smart,” in exchange for a simpler life in her hometown of Toronto.

McAdams spent two years with her family, living the normal life she had prior to reaching A-list celebrity status, according to Bustle.

Although she believes things ultimately worked out for the best, the actress admits to experiencing fleeting moments of regret over her decision to abandon such significant roles.

“There’s certainly things like, ‘I wish I’d done that,'” she said, but admitted to ultimately realizing she may not have been the right for the roles if she had been cast.

“I step back and go, ‘That was the right person for that,'” she told Bustle.

“I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot,” she said. “But I also knew it wasn’t quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane.” (RELATED: REPORT: Madison Beer Reveals She Contemplated Suicide In New Memoir)

The famous actress now recognizes she found the balance between having it all in her career and being able to provide a healthy, stable life for herself, her family and her children, and ultimately that has been her true measure of success.