A Rare Interview with Rick Moranis Reviles Why he Retired From Acting

Best known for his works in the films Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Ghostbusters film franchise, Rick Moranis is a Canadian comedy icon, who hasn’t made appearances on screen since 1997. It is because it is the year he officially retired from the entertainment business to become a stay-at-home father.

But, several years before that, he had already been backing in and out of Hollywood. Since his wife lost her battle against breast cancer, which apparently was also the time when he was at the peak of his career, the actor just vanished. He has only done small voice acting gigs in films and on television from then on.

But, what forced Rick to decide to fully give his career?

As a child, Rick has had happy memories growing up in the outskirts of Toronto. And, he wanted his own kids to experience that kind of life. He just believes the saying, “90 percent of success is just being there” is true.

He explained, “When my kids came home, there was music, and there were lights on, and there were great smells coming out of the kitchen. And it was just a joyful place to be, and that’s what I wanted”.

After Rick recorded the comedy album of Hebrew songs, My Mother’s Brisket & Other Love Songs, he jokingly said that he’ll get back at his parents. And apparently, he rarely gives interviews about it. However, he clearly understands how it goes.

Fortunately, Jesse Thorne was able to speak with him. And, Rick opened up about his life after retirement.

If you listen to the entire interview, you will hear great stories about the characters Bob and Doug. As Rick talks, he sounds like the nicest, most generous, and mildest guy on the planet. But still, he is able to retain some class.

When asked what it was like to live his life after his wife died and after he retired from Hollywood, he just said:

“Stuff happens to people everyday, and they make adjustments to their lives for all kinds of reasons. There was nothing unusual about what happened or what I did, I think the reason that people were intrigued by the decisions I was making and sometimes seem to have almost admiration for it had less to do with the fact that I was doing what I was doing and more to do with what they thought I was walking away from, as if what I was walking away from had far greater value than anything else that one might have. The decision in my case to become a stay-at-home-Dad, which people do all the time, I guess wouldn’t have meant as much to people if I had had a very simple kind of make-a-living existence and decided I needed to spend more time at home. Nobody would pay attention to it, but because I came from celebrity and fame and what was the peak of a career, that was intriguing to people. To me, it wasn’t that. I didn’t have anything to do with that. It was work, and it was just time to make an adjustment.”

Rick was also asked what it meant to walk away from a career that used his creativity day by day, he replied:

“I didn’t walk away from that. I applied all of my creativity to my home life, to my kids, to my family. I was the same person. I didn’t change. I just shifted my focus.”

However, there were things that he surely did miss when he was raising his children. He recalled:

“I missed the people and I missed the very refreshing nature of doing something radically different every day. Raising kids and being a stay-at-home parent, especially a single parent, is, there’s a lot of sameness. It’s a very different kind of life than being on the set with Aykroyd and Murray and Steve Martin. So I missed that kind of thing, but I found lots of joy and lots of rewards in other places. It was just all part of an adjustment.”

Rick also didn’t escape the question about what his kids thought about the fact that their father was once a popular movie star when they were still young. In response, he only had this to say:

“My earliest memories were of being in public situations where people would get all excited because they were seeing a famous person, and my kids were just like, ‘Why are you so excited? It’s just him.’ They had a really good perspective on celebrity and fame very early on.”

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To show his kids indifference toward famous personalities, Rick shared an adorable story about his 5-year-old son seeing Derek Jeter at a game. He remembered:

“Derek Jeter turned around, recognized me, got kind of like, ‘Oh hi! Hi!’ And my son said, ‘Have you met Chuck Knoblauch yet?’ And Jeter looked at him like, ‘Who is this kid.’ But that was my son. He was comfortable around anyone, and I think the reason was, is because he just didn’t buy why anyone would get excited around me.”

Listening to the interview, it seems like he has no plans to return to the entertainment business anytime soon. He didn’t even looked excited. His answer was:

“I’m comfortable with where I live. There’s certain places I’m not interested in being. I’m not interested in doing anything I’ve done in the past … I have no idea. It’s not something I’ve given any thought to at all.”