Andie MacDowell discussed her decision to leave Hollywood for South Carolina after her kids, including “The Substance” star Margaret Qualley, grew up and left home.
Every day is not groundhog day for Andie MacDowell.
The “Four Weddings and a Funeral” star admitted she’s gotten a new lease on life since leaving Hollywood for life in the South — and she’s not looking back.
“I’m happier now than I have been in a long time,” the actress told Drew Barrymore in a preview of her Jan. 24 appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” “I moved to South Carolina and I really am taking good care of myself.”
The 66-year-old — who shares daughters Rainey Qualley, 35, and Margaret Qualley, 30, as well as son Justin Qualley, 38, with ex Paul Qualley — said it took “forever” to adjust to her new way of life, explaining, “Once my kids left, I felt this huge void in my life because they were so important to me.”
“Margaret was really telling me I was supposed to be having the time of my life, but I wasn’t,” she went on. “But now I am — I’m having the time of my life now. It’s really good.”
Although the “St. Elmo’s Fire” actress said it was “hard” becoming an empty-nester, that’s not to say she’s having a tough time getting older. In fact, she’s embraced one sign of aging with open arms: her natural graying hair.
“How old do you think I look?” MacDowell rhetorically asked told Katie Couric in a March 2023 interview. “I’m going to be 65. What do you think I look, 75, just because I let my hair go gray? I don’t care. I want to be old.”
And her decision to go gray wound up having several unexpected benefits, too.
“As it was growing out, my eyes popped and the color of them looked a little different,” she raved. “My skin looked better. It empowered me more. I felt more powerful and I felt more genuine and I felt more myself.”
And although MacDowell is still working in the entertainment industry — soon appearing in “Wildfire,” “The Token Groomsman” and “The Temptation of Gracie” — she joins a long list of stars who’ve discussed their decision to leave Los Angeles behind.
