Though it’s been nearly two decades since Frankie Muniz stepped away from Hollywood, the former child actor can still remember why his experience working in the entertainment industry was so “miserable.”
While promoting the current season of Australia’s “I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here,” the former “Malcom in the Middle” star opened up about his reasons for leaving Los Angeles and how that decision ultimately changed his life for the better.
“I never felt like I fully fit in the Hollywood world, even though I was in the world,” Muniz, who starred on the popular sitcom from 2000 to 2006, told news.com.au. “I was nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes, and I was going to all this stuff, and I was there, and I was like, ‘How am I here?’”
Frankie Muniz starred as Malcolm Wilkerson in “Malcolm in the MIddle” for 7 seasons. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
“I hated LA, so I kind of stayed in my own little world, my own little bubble,” he added. “And moving to Arizona, I did it on a whim, and I realized immediately that I started looking up. I started enjoying looking at trees and birds in the sky. Going to the grocery store was a fun thing. You don’t get that in LA. It’s a miserable experience.”
A rep for Muniz did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
In 2022, Muniz — who took a hiatus from acting in 2006 to pursue professional race car driving — opened up to Fox News Digital about how his decision to retire from acting helped him avoid going down a “bad path.”
Frankie Muniz went on to become a professional race car driver after “Malcolm in the Middle” came to an end. (Leon Bennett/WireImage)
“When I was on ‘Malcolm,’ I was just so excited to be working on a show,” he said. “But also in that same sense, when the show ended, I kind of left the business for a little bit. I started doing other things. I was racing cars. I joined a band. I was touring all over. I opened some businesses and I got to experience so many amazing things in my life, which now at this point has made me able to reflect and look back and be so appreciative of the experience.”
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Frankie Muniz waits on the grid prior to the ARCA Menards Series BRANDT 200 Supporting Florida FFA at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
“Now, I have thought about it,” he continued. “Because… so many people go down a bad path, whether it’s drugs, alcohol — whatever it may be. And I think for a lot of people, it’s probably difficult to go from having such success at a young age where you always have people going like, ‘Oh, I love you,’ and everyone wanting you here and there. And then that starts to fade. And I think a lot of people try to replace the missing feeling of [being] wanted with something else. And that really is a negative for a lot of people. Whereas for me, I’ve always been super focused on what I was currently doing because I wanted to be the best at whatever I was doing. And that’s how I am.”
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Frankie Muniz with “Malcom in the Middle” costars Bryan Cranston, Justin Berfield and Christopher Masterson. (Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images)
In the most recent episode of “I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here,” Muniz further reminisced and recalled a time in which he walked off the “Malcom” set due to toxicity.
“There were two episodes I’m not in,” he said. “I walked off the set.”
“Everyone was so afraid to stand up when certain people were controlling or rude or disrespectful. Like they walked on pins and needles,” he added. “I was so mortified by seeing people afraid to stand up for themselves, I was like: ‘Say something.’ I didn’t care if they told me I was never going back, because it was worth it to me. It helped that the show was based around me.”
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