Chad Michael Murray Nearly Quit Acting After ‘One Tree Hill’: ‘I Couldn’t Do It Anymore’

Chad Michael Murray is bringing holiday cheer to millions in Netflix’s new movie, The Merry Gentlemen, but it almost wasn’t to be.

The actor, 43, revealed he almost quit acting after starring on One Tree Hill amid his meteoric rise to fame — and the pressures that came with it.

“There was a moment where I was quitting. I was done. I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was right after I left One Tree Hill, and it wasn’t because of the fandom,” Murray shared in an interview with Interview Magazine published Wednesday, December 11. “It was because, when you’re 18 to 25, these formidable years where you’re really cutting your teeth on life experiences and your brain isn’t fully developed, you make mistakes.”

“I mean, gosh, we still screw up when we’re grown-ups. But I think it’s hard for me to see past those moments when you’re not adult enough to understand the scenarios that you’re in,” he added.

Murray, who played Lucas Scott on One Tree Hill for six seasons, shot to fame after the WB/CW show premiered in 2003. He followed it up with major movie roles, including Freaky Friday and House of Wax. However, the actor said he struggled with being in the spotlight. (Murray had a high-profile relationship with OTH costar Sophia Bush during his time on the show. They got married in 2005 but divorced a year later.)

“That was hard for me because there are so many eyeballs on you. And you go to the grocery store and someone points at you, ‘Oh, that’s the guy that’s on the tabloid, or that’s the guy that did this,’” Murray explained. “Even if they’re not talking about that, sometimes your head goes to a negative place, and I know mine really did. And so I just made a big pivot at that point in my life and said, ‘You know what? This is not what I want.’”

Now in his 40s, Murray has a better handle on fame by prioritizing his personal life. The actor has been married to actress Sarah Roemer since 2015 and the couple share three children.

“My goal in life is to just be a great father, a great husband. I love being an actor. But at the end of the day, the real grassroots thing for me was being a family man,” he said. “I had to find the right partner for that. And I had to go through the right experiences and the wrong experiences to get there.’”

Earlier this year, Murray reflected on his whirlwind 2005 wedding to Bush, 42, admitting he was too young to get married at the time.

“I was a baby. I didn’t know up, down, left, right,” Murray told The Cut in May. “You move out there and you go, ‘Well, what am I supposed to do now? Get married? That’s exciting!’”