Debra Winger’s decision to walk away from her storied Hollywood career baffled many, but for Winger, the choice was easy. Her last credit before stepping away from Tinsel Town was the 1995 romantic comedy, “Forget Paris,” after which she quickly approached a professional crossroads. The year prior, she confessed to The New York Times that she felt she was “in the twilight of my career.” She told The Guardian of this time in her life, “I had also reached 40, a point in life when things can get really tough in Hollywood. I looked around and thought: It’s time to go.”
From Winger’s perspective, she never left Hollywood outright, but rather she “simply pushed the pause button” on increasingly unfulfilling acting opportunities (via People). Winger told People, “The parts that were coming, I wasn’t interested in … My life challenged me more than the parts, so I dove into it fully.” In her time away from mainstream Hollywood, Winger’s life was plenty busy, as she informed the Los Angeles Times, “I had a baby, my mom passed, I taught, I did two plays. I lived my life.”
