Rachel McAdams

Rachel McAdams

Rachel McAdams "never really wanted to be a big movie star."

The 34-year-old actress - who starred in 2004 hit films 'Mean Girls' and 'The Notebook' - dropped out of the industry at the peak of her budding career in 2006 because she was struggling to come to terms with her new-found fame and had her heart set on staying in theatre.

She told The Times newspaper: "Everything was happening really quickly, there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen, a lot of voices around me, and I wanted to step away so I could hear my own voice again.

"There was no instruction book available about how to deal with it, and also, truthfully, I never really wanted to be a big movie star. I never ever wanted to work outside of Canada, or outside of the theatre."

Although Hollywood is home to a number of famous faces, she is yet to leave Canada and is reluctant to move to the celebrity hotspot as films aren't always shot there.

She explained: "The world has become so small these days and most films are not shot in Hollywood any more, so there's no point living there."

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