Robin Wright abandons America for the UK, calls it a ‘liberating’ escape from the ‘s***show’

Robin Wright said moving to England with Henry Smith was a breath of fresh air, calling life there freer and calmer than the chaos of America
UPDATED SEP 18, 2025
Robin Wright said she felt relieved to leave the chaos of the US, calling her move abroad liberating after years of searching and settling (Getty Images)
Robin Wright said she felt relieved to leave the chaos of the US, calling her move abroad liberating after years of searching and settling (Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It looks like Robin Wright is trading red carpets for rainy pubs.

The 'House of Cards' and 'Princess Bride' star has packed her bags, left Hollywood behind, and settled in coastal England with her boyfriend, Henry Smith.

The 59-year-old actress told The Sunday Times, “America is a s**tshow.”

Robin Wright says goodbye to Los Angeles

Wright said she’s relieved to escape the chaos of the States. “It’s liberating to be done. Be done with searching, looking, and getting 60 percent of what you wanted," she said.

Now renting a house on the British coast with Smith, she describes the move as a total breath of fresh air. “I love being in this country. There's a freedom of self here. People are so kind. They're living. They're not in the car in traffic, panicked on a phone call, eating a sandwich. That's most of America. Everything's rush, competition, and speed.”

Although the actress has always been a California girl, she said the Los Angeles lifestyle became a deal-breaker. “Everyone's building a huge house, and I'm just done with all that — I love the quiet,” she said. “And I've met my person. Finally.”


 
 
 
 
 
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Wright shared the story of her blunt first encounter with Smith. Sitting in a pub, she asked a man if she could feed his dog. “He goes, 'No, it’s not my dog, it’s his dog,'” she recalled.

“Henry was standing at the bar, 6'2", and he put his pint down, came over to me and grabbed my shoulders,” Wright said. “He goes, 'Who the f*** are you?' And I said, 'Who the f*** are you?' And that was it.”

Far from put off, Wright was hooked. “He is a sweetheart and just a good, decent adult. He's a man," she said.

Their romance, she added, is exactly the pace she had been craving. “It’s so relaxing. That's exactly what I wanted. I'm turning 60 and I'm, like, 'Is this it?' I love being alone, and I've done that many times. But I'm, like, 'I want to grow old with somebody, and travel and see the world.’”   

Robin Wright reflects on past marriages and parenting regrets

Wright was married three times before meeting Smith, first to Dane Witherspoon, then famously to Sean Penn, with whom she shares two children, Dylan and Hopper, and later to music executive Clement Giraudet, whom she divorced in 2022.

(L-R) Actors Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn arrive at the 81st Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on February 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
Actors Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn arrive at the 81st Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on February 22, 2009, in Los Angeles, California (Getty Images)

With her kids now grown, Wright admitted she carries some regrets as a mother. “I have a huge regret as a mother and have experienced the fallout of this regret for many years with my kids — I wasn’t hard enough on them.”

She confessed she “wasn’t hard enough” on Dylan, 34, and Hopper, 32, while raising them. Hopper battled crystal meth addiction in 2017, while Dylan was also rebellious. “Every day if the phone rings, you’re like, ‘Is he alive? Is she alive?’ I went through that for so many years with both of them," she recounted.

Wright said Penn, 65, was the tougher parent, but his career often kept him away. “But he was gone so much of the time. He’d come back and be the policeman, and then he’d leave me with the residue. Then I would soften the blow. We were both extremes. They didn’t get that grey area in the middle, which is stern, and that is what they needed."

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 01:  Actors Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn attend the premiere of
Actors Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn attend the 'What Just Happened' premiere at Museum of Modern Art on October 1, 2008 in New York City (Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic)

She added that both Dylan and Hopper are now “in a really good place.” Wright is also starring in and directing 'The Girlfriend', a new Amazon Prime drama premiering September 10. The series also features Olivia Cooke and Laurie Davidson.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.

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