Haley Joel Osment opens up about his journey after child stardom, his decision to leave Los Angeles, and how he navigates fame and privacy in today’s social media era.
Bollywood Fever: Haley Joel Osment, once the quintessential child star who captivated audiences with his performance in The Sixth Sense, recently shared his reflections on fame, family, and his career in an exclusive interview with E! News. Now 36, Osment discussed how reaching the height of child stardom led him to reevaluate his life and career.
“My parents used to say when I first started out in this industry, ‘If it’s ever not fun, you can quit tomorrow,'” Osment recalled. As he approached college age, he took their advice to heart and decided to step back from the Hollywood spotlight. “When I got to be college age, I got to go off and study theater and really think hard about whether I wanted to do this as my career in life.”
Despite the challenges and uncertainties of the industry, Osment has continued to find joy in acting. “The answer has always been yes at all these junctures,” he shared, expressing his ongoing passion for his craft. His latest film, Blink Twice, directed by Zoë Kravitz, is set to hit theaters on August 23.

In 2006, Osment made the pivotal decision to leave Los Angeles and enroll at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Reflecting on that period, he noted how the city had become a breeding ground for toxic paparazzi culture. Those were pretty tense years in terms of how celebrity was in Los Angeles,” Osment said, describing the “very predatory, aggressive kind of tabloid engagement with certain celebrities.
Moving to New York provided him the distance he needed from the intense scrutiny of Hollywood. “I remember being very happy to not be making my home in Los Angeles at that time,” he admitted. Osment ended up living in New York for about 15 years before returning to Los Angeles, where he was seen supporting fellow Screen Actors Guild members on the picket line outside Walt Disney Studios last fall.
Now back in his hometown, Osment observed that L.A. has “mellowed out a bit,” especially regarding the paparazzi culture that once dominated the city. “We’re in a different era than we were,” he said, acknowledging the shift in how celebrities engage with the public.
Osment also discussed his evolving relationship with social media, admitting it took him “a long time to figure out how to navigate” the platform as a public figure. He credits the rise of content “willingly posted online” for helping to ease some of the pressures associated with fame, allowing him to maintain a balance between his public and private life.
As Osment continues to navigate the complexities of fame, his journey serves as a reminder of the importance of self-reflection and the ability to step back when needed. With a successful career spanning decades, he remains a beloved figure in Hollywood, all while staying true to himself.
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