18 Celebs Who Left The US For Political Reasons Or Plan To

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Raven-Symoné said, "If any Republican gets elected, I'm gonna move to Canada with my entire family."

According to Gallup, in 2025, 20% of Americans would like to permanently relocate to another country — including a staggering 40% of women aged 15 to 44. Of course, most of us don't have the resources to uproot our entire lives like that! However, for celebrities, it's a totally different story.

Firstly, here are eight celebs who moved out of the US for political reasons:

1. In 2025, James Cameron, who was born in Canada but moved to California with his family at 17, told Stuff that the US under the Trump administration is "like watching a car crash over and over" and described his reelection as "horrifying." The director said, "I see a turn away from everything decent. America doesn't stand for anything if it doesn't stand for what it has historically stood for. It becomes a hollow idea, and I think they're hollowing it out as fast as they can for their own benefit."

He moved to Wellington, New Zealand 14 years ago and has decided that becoming a citizen is "imminent." He said, "I don't know if I feel any safer here, but I certainly feel like I don't have to read about [Trump] on the front page every single day. And it's just sickening. There's something nice about the New Zealand outlets — at least they'll put it on page three. I just don't want to see that guy's face anymore on the front page of the paper. It's inescapable there; it's like watching a car crash over and over and over... [NZ citizenship] means a lot. It's something I've worked toward, something I've had to sacrifice for. If you're going to uproot your family and move somewhere, you have to invest, you have to be part of it, you have to earn standing. I just think you've got to earn your right to be in a place."

2. In early 2016, Chelsea Handler told Vanity Fair, "I have a house in Spain that is gonna be ready right after the election." A few months later, she told Live with Kelly and Michael, "I did buy a house in another country just in case, so all of these people that threaten to leave the country and then don't, I will leave the country."

While she ultimately didn't make a permanent move to Spain, she ended up buying a home in Whistler, British Columbia. She told the Vancouver Sun, "In 2020, 2021, and 2022, I spent a lot of time there. It went from a couple of weeks a year to going up there from December to April. It's kind of my home away from home. I have a great group of friends up there. I shoot my naked skiing videos there."

"I went [for the first time] on my 38th birthday. I brought a group of girls up there because I loved to ski, and I'd never been to Canada, so I said, 'Let's go to Whistler.' I'd heard such beautiful things about it. Ever since, I'd take my family for Christmas, I'd go up there for my birthday. I was looking to buy a place for a couple of years. And then with the election coming up, I started getting a little panicky. If Trump was re-elected, I needed a place to skedaddle to. I literally bought a place on FaceTime. I just had a guy walk me through the house," she said.

3. In a Threads post after the 2024 election, model and creator Vivian Wilson — who was born in California but also has Canadian citizenship through her mom — said, "I've thought this for a while, but yesterday confirmed it for me. I don't see my future being in the United States. Even if he's only in office for 4 years, even if the anti-trans regulations magically don't happen, the people who willingly voted this in are not going anywhere anytime soon."

In early 2025, she was living and studying in Tokyo. However, in September, she told the Cut that she was living in LA, where she shared her apartment with a trio of roommates to make it more affordable.

4. Rosie O'Donnell relocated to Ireland. In a 2025 TikTok video, she said, "I'm here in Ireland, and it's beautiful and warm — not physically, it's actually quite cold. Moved here on January 15th, and it's been pretty wonderful, I have to say. The people are so loving and so kind, so welcoming, and I'm very grateful. I'm in the process of getting my Irish citizenship, as I have Irish grandparents, and that's what's going on... I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that's what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child. And here we are..."

"You know, I'm happy. Clay is happy. I miss my other kids. I miss my friends. I miss many things about life there at home, and I'm trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. And when, you know, it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that's when we will consider coming back. It's been heartbreaking to see what's happening politically and hard for me personally as well. The personal is political, as we all know," she said.

5. After living in London for five years, Courtney Love announced that she was applying for UK citizenship. At a 2025 event at the Royal Geographical Society, she said, "I'm really glad I'm here. It's so great to live here. I'm finally getting my British citizenship in six months. I get to be a citizen. I'm applying, man! Can't get rid of me!"

While she didn't explicitly say she was permanently moving countries for political reasons, she did criticize the current administration, saying, "In terms of Trump and particularly this group…it's like emperor-core. Like, [they're] wearing million-dollar watches. Emperor-core is going on at Mar-a-Lago. It's frightening now. It's like cyanide now."

6. During her marriage to Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner lived in LA and Miami, but she was homesick for the UK. After their divorce, she returned to London. In 2024, she told Harper's Bazaar UK, "The gun violence, Roe v. Wade being overturned... Everything just kind of piled on. After the Uvalde [school] shooting, I knew it was time to get the fuck out of there. I'm so happy to be back. I never feel like myself when I'm not in London."

7. In 2024, People reported that Ellen DeGeneres fell in love with a house in the Cotswolds in the UK and moved there with her wife, Portia de Rossi. Per sources that spoke to the Wrap and TMZ, the couple reportedly moved abroad following the results of the 2024 presidential election.

During a 2025 show in the UK, Ellen confirmed those reports, telling her audience that she and Portia made the decision to relocate the day after Trump's reelection. She said, "We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, 'He got in.' And we're like, 'We're staying here.' ... The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage. They're trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it. Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we're going to get married here... I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences. So until we're there, I think there's a hard place to say we have huge progress."

8. In 2025, actor Shaun Majumder left LA and moved back to Canada with his family. Rather than return home to Newfoundland, they settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He told CBC, "Have you been watching the news? Have you seen what's going on? I ran out of a burning building with my youngsters under my arm and my wife on my back. I'm like, get me out of here, this is crazy! You know, we've been kind of, like, mulling over a big change over the last six to eight months, to be honest. Having two young kids, living in Los Angeles, is a really different experience than moving down there as a super enthusiastic whippersnapper actor. But, you know, during COVID, we had two children, and that changed our lives forever. We actually went back to Newfoundland; it's kind of where we hunkered down. It just feels like the perfect storm."

He also said, "We also knew that the tides were turning on the political landscape in America. We knew an election was coming up, and I said to my wife, 'Shelby, if Trump wins, I don't know. I have a feeling that that's going to be the kicker to get me to go. I think I need to go.' We went through the election. We went to our family's place in Florida for Christmas. We came back to LA. The city was on fire. Trump was now president, whether you like him or not. The country was kind of becoming more chaotic. And we were just like, oh, yeah, if the universe wasn't screaming at us right now to get out of here, then this is definitely a kicker. And I do most of my work in Canada, so it just makes sense for us to be up here."

And now, here are 10 celebs who said they planned to move out of the US for political reasons:

9. After the 2024 election, Laverne Cox told the Just for Variety podcast that she and a group of her trans friends were considering moving out of the US. She said, "We're doing research on different cities in Europe and in the Caribbean... I don't want to be in too much fear, but I'm scared. As a public figure, with all my privilege, I'm scared, and I'm particularly scared because I'm a public figure. I feel like I could be targeted. I think they spent close to $100 million on anti-trans ads. It's deeply concerning."

She also expressed concern over access to the hormone treatments she needs. She said, "I’m done with my medical transition, but I have to take estrogen for the rest of my life. If I stop, I get hot flashes. It's really bad. I have to take estrogen just for health. I don't know if that's going to be possible anymore. There's a website I've gone to already. I haven't bought any yet because I'm talking to my doctor to make sure it's all reputable and good product. But, yeah, I'm gonna hoard a bunch of estrogen. It's a little trickier for trans men because testosterone is a controlled substance. But there are resources online."

10. In 2023, Cher reflected on the possibility of a Trump reelection, telling the Guardian, "I almost got an ulcer the last time. If he gets in, who knows? This time I will leave [the country]."

As of 2025, she reportedly lives in Malibu. However, at the beginning of her career with Sonny Bono, they found the UK to be a more welcoming place. She said, "In America, we were getting beaten up for the way we looked. We had to go to London, where people understood us and respected us. England has been lucky for me more than once."

11. Following the 2016 election, Snoop Dogg shared a picture of the Toronto skyline on Instagram, calling it his "new home." Tagging Canadian rapper Drake, he added, "I need the hookup on some property. Nefew fuck this shit I'm going to the. 6ix."

However, he didn't make the move. In 2025, he was widely criticized for performing at the Crypto Ball, which celebrated Trump's inauguration. Addressing the backlash, he told The Breakfast Club, "I DJed at the Crypto Ball for what, 30 minutes? Made a whole bunch of money, made a lot of relationships to help out the inner city and the community, and teach financial literacy and crypto in a space that it don't exist. That's 30 minutes. [For] 30 years, Snoop Dogg been doing great things for the community, building, showing up, standing up for the people, making it happen, being all I can be."

He continued, "Even if I would have done it for him and hung out with him and took a picture with him, can't none of you motherfuckers tell me what I can and can't do. But I'm not a politician. I don't represent the Republican Party. I don't represent the Democratic Party. I represent the motherfucking Gangster Party period point blank, and G shit we don't explain shit so that's why I didn't explain. That's why I didn't go into detail when motherfuckers was trying to cancel me and say he a sellout."

12. Shortly before the 2016 election, Ne-Yo told TMZ, "I already told you what I'm doing if he becomes president. I'm moving to Canada. Me and Drake gonna be neighbors if Donald Trump becomes president."

However, the following year, he purchased a new home in California.

13. On a 2016 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Lena Dunham said that, if Trump won his first presidential election, she'd move to Canada. She said, "I know a lot of people have been threatening to do this, but I really will. I know a lovely place in Vancouver, and I can get my work done from there."

However, in 2017, she tweeted out a link to an interview she did with Time, in which she discussed reproductive rights, feminism, and using her platform to speak out about politics. She captioned her post, "This is why I will never shut up, move to Canada, or shut up and move to Canada."

As of 2025, Lena lives in London because she finds it more peaceful than her native NYC. In an essay for the New Yorker, she wrote, "In New York — the fastest city in the world — days had felt like years. In London, years passed like days, which is how I ended up, five years on, realizing that London is my home now, so much so that I call seltzer 'sparkling water' and settle for bagels that taste like caulk. Even when Londoners remind me of New Yorkers, the city doesn't jangle me the way New York does."

14. On an early 2016 episode of The View, cohost Raven-Symoné said, "If any Republican gets elected, I'm gonna move to Canada with my entire family." Then, the day of the election, the show aired a segment where she traveled to Vancouver "to prepare for the possibility that [she] might relocate to Canada tomorrow."

However, she ultimately remained in the US, reportedly buying a new home in California in 2020.

15. In 2016, Barbra Streisand told Aussie journalist Michael Usher that, if Trump won the election, "I'm either coming to your country, if you'll let me in, or Canada."

16. At the beginning of 2016, Ontario-born actor Neve Campbell told HuffPost UK, "I'm terrified. It's really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph... [If he wins, I'll] move back to Canada. I cannot believe that he is still in the game. I cannot conceive of how that's possible. He's an ideologue, he's got extreme ideas, and people are looking for a big change at the moment, at the opposite end from Bernie Sanders. And there is a good amount of ignorance in America, of people who are angry and disappointed but don't educate themselves in why, and how it can be fixed. They see someone off the cuff and broad, and they think, 'Ok, that's the voice we need, just someone honest.' But his honesty is terrifying."

However, after the presidential election, she said on Instagram, "Happy thanksgiving to all from a visit in Canada. Still very proud to have the honor of living in America. I just pray that we can all try to come together and see eye to eye as best we can. UNITED States of America. It's important we remember this. It's been hard for us all. I wish nothing but the best for our country. Sending love to all in these times of [adversity]."

17. Speaking to the podcast The Bestseller Experiment just ahead of the 2016 election, Bryan Cranston had this response to a question about if he'd take an extended vacation to Vancouver, should Trump win: "Absolutely. I would definitely move. It's not real to me that that would happen. I hope to God it won't... It wouldn't be a vacation. I'd be an expatriate."

However, he did not make the move. He reportedly maintains residences in California, NYC, and Albuquerque.

18. And finally, in 2016, Amy Schumer told BBC Newsnight that, if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton didn't win the presidential election, "My act will change because I'll need to learn to speak Spanish because I will move to Spain or somewhere. It's beyond my comprehension if Trump won. It's just... It's too crazy."

However, post-election, she said she'd been joking. On Instagram, she said, "First of all the interview where I said I would move was in London and was said in jest. Not that anyone needs more than a headline to count something as official news. Anyone saying pack your bags is just as disgusting as anyone who voted for this racist homophobic openly disrespectful woman abuser."

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18 Celebs Who Left The US For Political Reasons Or Plan To

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According to Gallup, in 2025, 20% of Americans would like to permanently relocate to another country — including a staggering 40% of women aged 15 to 44. Of course, most of us don't have the resources to uproot our entire lives like that! However, for celebrities, it's a totally different story.

Firstly, here are eight celebs who moved out of the US for political reasons:

In early 2025, she was living and studying in Tokyo. However, in September, she told the Cut that she was living in LA, where she shared her apartment with a trio of roommates to make it more affordable.

7. In 2024, People reported that Ellen DeGeneres fell in love with a house in the Cotswolds in the UK and moved there with her wife, Portia de Rossi. Per sources that spoke to the Wrap and TMZ, the couple reportedly moved abroad following the results of the 2024 presidential election.

And now, here are 10 celebs who said they planned to move out of the US for political reasons:

10. In 2023, Cher reflected on the possibility of a Trump reelection, telling the Guardian, "I almost got an ulcer the last time. If he gets in, who knows? This time I will leave [the country]."

11. Following the 2016 election, Snoop Dogg shared a picture of the Toronto skyline on Instagram, calling it his "new home." Tagging Canadian rapper Drake, he added, "I need the hookup on some property. Nefew fuck this shit I'm going to the. 6ix."

12. Shortly before the 2016 election, Ne-Yo told TMZ, "I already told you what I'm doing if he becomes president. I'm moving to Canada. Me and Drake gonna be neighbors if Donald Trump becomes president."

However, the following year, he purchased a new home in California.

However, in 2017, she tweeted out a link to an interview she did with Time, in which she discussed reproductive rights, feminism, and using her platform to speak out about politics. She captioned her post, "This is why I will never shut up, move to Canada, or shut up and move to Canada."

However, she ultimately remained in the US, reportedly buying a new home in California in 2020.

15. In 2016, Barbra Streisand told Aussie journalist Michael Usher that, if Trump won the election, "I'm either coming to your country, if you'll let me in, or Canada."

However, he did not make the move. He reportedly maintains residences in California, NYC, and Albuquerque.

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