Actor Kirk Cameron announced Wednesday that he has moved from California to Tennessee, joining a growing list of celebrities who have left the Golden State, the Washington Examiner reported.
The former “Growing Pains” and “Left Behind” star said that he had been “seriously” thinking about leaving California over the past few years, especially after the state issued strict regulations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Washington Examiner.
Cameron, who said he asked fans in 2021 to suggest states they would prefer living in, told the publication that California was causing “so much division” and that he wanted to live in a community that had a “healthy freedom-mindset.” (RELATED: VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: How California’s Paradise Became Our Purgatory)
Kirk Cameron joins Hollywood exodus leaving California https://t.co/mtyFmSEgP2
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 4, 2024
“It’s pretty clear that California has been moving in a particular direction for a long time,” the actor said.
The list of celebrities who have recently fled California include Mark Wahlberg, Sylvester Stallone and YouTube podcaster Dave Rubin, who announced on X in 2021 that he was “officially leaving the dystopian nightmare of California for the free state of Florida.”
Cameron, a 53-year-old father of six, said that “the biggest reason” he moved his family was that they “didn’t feel safe anymore,” FOX11 reported.
Cameron has been vocal in his opposition to drag queen story hour and has garnered a lot of attention nationwide in attempts to promote more faith-based and age-appropriate books and library story hours, the Washington Examiner reported.
The former “Full House” star told the Washington Examiner that he’s shocked that there are so many Californians in Tennessee and that when he sees them in the grocery store he tells them, “Don’t California our Tennessee.”
If people are experiencing “serious economic problems and division” and “they want to be around people like they think who are all about God, family, and country,” Cameron suggests Tennessee, telling the Washington Examiner, “It’s a really nice place to be.”
