Stephen Baldwin explains why he left Hollywood, says Alec Baldwin warned him about ‘career-ending mistake’

Joey NolfiMon, August 3, 2026 at 1:44 PM UTC

0

Alec Baldwin and Stephen BaldwinCredit: Sonia Moskowitz/GettyKey Points -

Stephen Baldwin explained why he left Hollywood.

The actor said a housekeeper told his family that ‘God spoke to’ her about his trajectory.

Baldwin admitted that he “didn’t want to be Tom Cruise” anyway.

Actor Stephen Baldwin has admitted to the real reason why he left Hollywood.

The 60-year-old Flintstones movie star and grandfather to Hailey and Justin Bieber’s son, Jack, opened up to Entertainment Weekly‘s sister publication, PEOPLE, about leaving the mainstream entertainment industry behind in pursuit of God and skateboards.

“I probably could have pointed myself in the direction of becoming a big star,” Baldwin told the outlet. “But that wasn’t me. I didn’t want to be Tom Cruise, and have to make $100 million at the box office. I’d rather be a schmuck from Massapequa!”

Brothers Billy Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, and Daniel Baldwin in 2010Credit: WireImage/Getty

His perspective on the film industry began to change after he made the derided 1996 comedy Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore, which he said brother Alec Baldwin attempted to warn him about doing: “He said, ‘Let me get this straight. It’s called Bio-Dome and it’s you and Pauly Shore trapped together in the biosphere... I think perhaps that could be the biggest career-ending mistake you could ever make.’”

Still, while Stephen said the film is “right up there with The Usual Suspects“ among his best projects, he didn’t feel inclined to participate in the Hollywood machine around the year 2001, when he fully leaned into his born-again Christianity.“After the birth of our daughter Alaia, my wife [Kennya Deodato] hired a woman named Augusta from Brazil to come over and live and work with us and help out. She didn’t speak English, she only communicated with my wife, who is Brazilian, in Portuguese,” Stephen explained of how Augusta changed the course of his life. “One day, Kennya and Augusta were talking, and she said, ‘I think it’s funny you believe I’m here to clean your house.’”

He continued: “My wife tells me, ‘I just spoke to Augusta, and she said the real reason she’s here is because God spoke to her, and she said in the future you and I will become born-again Christians and have our own ministry.’”

Because he “felt a calling,” Stephen decided to embrace making skateboard videos with a Christian message: “Jesus and the holy spirit fascinated me,” said Stephen, who directed the 2004 skateboarding film Livin’ It under that guidance.

Advertisement

Now a grandfather to the Biebers’ son and daughter Alaia’s child, Iris, Stephen told the publication that his grandkids are “so cute,” calling Iris “the funniest, kookiest kid. She likes to steal my daughter’s phone when we’re on FaceTime and put a cow filter on and just makes me laugh.”

Alec Baldwin and Stephen BaldwinCredit: T Roth/WireImage

But things haven’t always been calm and comfortable for Stephen, who courted controversy in the past over a number of legal issues. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to a charge related to tax evasion, though he agreed to pay back what he owed. Then, in April 2025, he and Alec were involved in a car crash in the Hamptons. Stephen additionally drew criticism over his political views, after having supported Donald Trump in two separate presidential election cycles.

“I think they thought I act a little too weird,” Stephen said of his image among Hollywood circles.

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

“But I’m fascinated by people like George Carlin and Steven Wright, people who play with words and have sarcastic, smarmy senses of humor,” he observed, referencing others as he reflected on his ability to spread his message of Christianity online. “And I get a lot of DMs from people who tell me how my work has touched them, and that’s all that matters. I’m happy to be where I’m now at 60. I’m so blessed. And I absolutely believe that the best is yet to come.”

According to his IMDb page, Stephen is next set to appear in a movie called A Walking Miracle, in which he’ll play a character named Pastor Paul.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”