Tom Selleck was a hardworking actor for many years before receiving his breakout role as
titular character Thomas Magnum on the hit 1980s television series Magnum P.I.
The series rocketed Tom to superstardom, which was what he had thought he always wanted.
However, many seasons into the show, Tom had a change of heart.
For many years, the audience began to believe that Tom had abandoned the entertainment industry
for good.
However, he gradually returned to television and is now headlining a series approaching
13 seasons.
Many have wondered where Tom Selleck went following his departure from Magnum P.I.,
and we’re here to tell that story!
Join Facts Verse as Tom Selleck finally admits why he quit Magnum P.I. and left Hollywood.
Tom Selleck Is a Television Icon Today, Tom Selleck is known as a staple of
television that has been like a family member to many audience members for decades.
Given that Tom’s breakout television role came over four decades ago, the actor has
certainly had a great deal more longevity in the entertainment industry than the majority
of his peers, even if he’s never made much of a successful transition into film.
While Tom Selleck broke out into superstardom four decades ago and is just as big of a start
today as he ever was previously, there was actually a time during the late 1980s when
he considered never acting again.
Magnum P.I.
memorably came to a close in 1988 after eight seasons, and some may not realize that the
reason the series ended was actually that its star no longer wanted to play the titular
lead role that made him famous.
Instead, Tom wanted to take a break from acting.
According to Tom Selleck, he’s always been a private person.
However, this didn’t stop the man from wanting to become a star.
While Tom took a long time to bloom in the Hollywood arena, he eventually found his successful
starring vehicle with Magnum P.I.
On the hit series, Tom made the role of Thomas Magnum his own and contributed things to the
character that helped make the series more relatable to the television audience.
It’s certainly hard to picture anybody else in the show’s titular lead role, and it’s
more than understandable that the series came to an end when Tom decided that he no longer
wanted to do it.
Given that the show had already aired for eight seasons, it seems like Tom made the
right call by putting the series to an end before it got stale.
Audiences may have forgiven Tom if he had simply exited from Magnum P.I. and moved on
to another successful series.
However, he had other things in mind!
1988 wasn’t only the year of Magnum P.I.’s end, it was also the year that Tom Selleck
bought his famed California ranch.
This move marked the official transition of Tom Selleck from womanizer to family man,
and the actor is still living on the ranch to this day.
That is when he’s not filming his current successful series Blue Bloods!
Tom may have eventually come back to the entertainment industry, but he has never truly left his
ranch.
He spends as much time on his ranch as he can.
In fact, Tom was so enamored with his new ranch lifestyle when he first attained the
property that he seriously considered leaving the entertainment industry for good and spending
the rest of his days on the ranch with his family.
Tom Thinks Hollywood Is Superficial Tom Selleck makes no qualms about the fact
that he quit Magnum P.I.
predominantly because he wanted to spend more quiet time on his ranch with his family.
The actor also claims that this is the reason why he took a break from acting after quitting
the successful series and spelling its end after eight seasons.
The actor was initially unsure just how long of a break he was going to need after quitting
Magnum P.I., but he knew that he was drawn to the ranch.
As he started spending more time there, he came to realize that there was little drawing
him back to Hollywood.
According to Tom Selleck, by 1988, he had grown tired with the celebrity status that
he had so greatly yearned for a decade previously.
The actor began to feel that he was leading a superficial lifestyle, and felt suffocated
by the day-to-day necessities of filming a hit television series.
Tom felt that he needed more depth in his life, and he knew he wasn’t going to find
it by continuing to portray the character of Thomas Magnum.
The actor retreated to his ranch with his family with the vague implication that he
was going to look for a more fulfilling role.
However, as that role continued to elude the beloved television actor, his break from acting
continued to grow longer and longer.
Eventually, many people, including Tom himself, began to wonder if he was going to never come
back.
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Tom Still Loves to Act Some may wonder why Tom Selleck made the decision
to become a celebrity in the first place if he was so averse to the fast-paced Hollywood
lifestyle.
It seems that the actor has always enjoyed his craft, but that he hasn’t always enjoyed
many of the superficialities that come along with it.
From this, one can certainly understand why the actor has chosen to keep his private life
away from prying eyes.
Tom has always been well behaved and has always kept his name out of the tabloids.
This has gone a long way towards giving the actor unprecedented longevity in the realm
of television, whereas many other stars have come and gone.
The Secrets of Tom’s Private Life Tom Selleck has been married twice over the
course of his lifetime and has two children.
Tom’s first wife was a much less notable actress by the name of Jacqueline Ray, and
they were married for around a decade.
Tom married Jacqueline in 1971, and the pair divorced in 1982.
Over the course of their marriage, the two had a son by the name of Kevin.
Like Tom would be later on, Jacqueline may have been put off by her husband’s newfound
celebrity status.
The pair divorced only a few years after Tom took his role on Magnum P.I., and it stands
to reason that the star wasn’t likely able to be there as much for his wife and child.
The family-oriented man may have come to regret the decision that he made to sacrifice family
time in order to become a superstar thanks to his titular lead role on Magnum P.I., and
this may have been a big part of the reason why the actor chose to quit his role on the
show only a year after marrying his second wife.
When it came to his marriage with second wife, Jillie Mack, Tom likely didn't want to make
the same mistakes that he had made during his first marriage.
If Tom Selleck was looking to make his second marriage a good deal healthier than his first,
it seems like the actor has been successful!
Since marrying in 1987, Tom and Jillie are still together, and are still living on their
California ranch!
The two have a daughter by the name of Hannah, with Hannah being the second of Tom’s two
children.
Hannah was born in 1988, and Tom had plenty of time to spend with his newborn daughter
thanks to the fact that he had recently quit his job.
Tom Returned to Acting on His Own Terms Many actors in Tom’s position may have been
upset when the 1990s came around and people started speculating that Tom was a one-and-done
actor who would never be known for anything besides Magnum P.I.
However, Tom simply laughed all of the speculations off.
The actor knew that if he was going to return to Hollywood, he was going to do so on his
terms.
Eventually, he started gradually making his way back into the public eye thanks to memorable
turns on shows like Friends.
Tom was always picky about the roles he took, even before becoming a superstar.
After Magnum P.I., the actor grew a great deal pickier.
This pickiness has arguably helped his career longevity as much as anything, as the actor’s
roles have offered quality over quantity.
Even if Tom didn’t appear in much over the 1990s, the little he appeared in was notable,
and he was always memorable.
Of course, nowadays, Tom Selleck is 12 seasons into a lead role on another hit television
series, with that being Blue Bloods.
Blue Bloods came on the air in 2010, and it looks as if the show is going nowhere soon.
By 2010, Tom hadn’t been a major player on a television series for two decades, and
he was actually starting to miss the commitment!
With his children now adults, Tom has more free time to spend doing what he loves, which
is acting.
Even if Tom has never been completely comfortable with being a celebrity, he still loves to
hone his craft.
Whenever Tom isn’t filming Blue Bloods, he returns to his California ranch, which
he still lives at with his longtime second wife.
The actor is now 77 years old, and the fact that he is still one of the biggest television
stars currently working is truly something when you consider that he has been at it for
well over four decades.
While Tom Selleck is certainly grateful for the career longevity that he has managed to
maintain, he is even more grateful for his family and his ranch.
Those are the things that matter the most to Tom, and it’s evident in everything that
the man does!
Tom Selleck loves his ranch so much that he even got into trouble a few years back for
diverting public water to his crops during a notable California drought.
Though Tom Selleck was one of the biggest television stars of the 1980s, he decided
to turn his back on the audience to spend some quiet time with his family.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Tom Selleck is the reason that Magnum
P.I.
came to an end, and that the actor nearly left the entertainment industry for good after
quitting it?
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