Twilight star reveals why he left Hollywood for Tennessee

Kellan Lutz has opened up about his decision to swap Los Angeles for Tennessee.

The 41-year-old actor shot to fame in 2008 thanks to his role as Emmett Cullen in Twilight, a part he returned to as the film series continued until 2012.

He went on to have starring roles in films including 2014’s The Legend of Hercules and 2015’s Extraction, as well as appearing in Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables franchise.

However, three years ago he left Hollywood to move with his wife and two young children to Franklin, an historic city south of Nashville.

Speaking on the Inside of You podcast, Lutz admitted he “never wanted to leave” California.

He continued: “My wife and I, our hearts are still in California, especially Orange County.”

However, he explained that the family decided to leave the west coast when his wife’s family moved from Orange County to Tennessee after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Her family chose to leave California and we followed,” said Lutz. “You know, mainly when I’m working, my wife didn’t have a support system, someone to help with the kids when I’m away.”

Lutz went on to say that the family, who are Christians, had found a sense of community in their new home.

“There’s a lot of great things about Tennessee, especially Franklin where we live,” said Lutz. “We got some land, got great Bible studies that we’re a part of, great churches, great community.”

However, he did concede that there are certain things he misses about California.

“There are things that are hard for us,” said Lutz. “Like, we aren’t seasons people. There’s tornadoes. My wife goes on red alert, especially when you have kids. And we do miss good sushi and good Mexican food.”

Back in 2021, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke revealed that Lutz’s idiosyncratic diet had contributed to an enigmatic scene in the wildly popular film.

In a sequence set in a school cafeteria, Lutz’s character carries a plastic bag of loose eggs.

The eggs never served any function in the story, prompting some viewers to wonder why they were included in the first place.

Hardwicke told Insider, the “super quirky detail” was inspired by the actor’s own dietary regimen on set.

“I saw Kellan one day carrying a bag of, like, one dozen hard-boiled eggs,” she said. “I’m like, ‘What in the hell is going on? You’re not going to eat like a dozen eggs, are you?’

“I never had seen anybody carrying around a Ziploc bag of one dozen eggs and going to eat them all day long,” she added. “I was just laughing so hard. I’m like, ‘OK, [Emmett] has to have those eggs. You have to carry that in that scene,’ because it was just outrageous.”