Mary-Louise Parker Quitting Acting Over ‘Bitchy' Internet Comments
"I'm not really that into [acting] anymore," Mary-Louise Parker told News Corp Australia in an interview that was ostensibly about her role in two upcoming movies: R.I.P.D. and Red 2.
But instead of talk up her latest silver screen gigs, Parker, perhaps best known for starring in Showtime's Weeds, announced her imminent retirement from acting — and she blames it on mean Internet comments.
"The world has gotten too mean for me, it's just too bitchy. All the websites and all the blogging and all the people giving their opinion and their hatred … it's all so mean-spirited, it's all so critical," the 48-year-old is quoted as saying.
Though she readily admits to being too thin-skinned to handle the mean things people say about her online, Parker says her decision to leave the thespian arts is also motivated by concern that her two young children would be exposed to "such hatred."
Parker told the interviewer she'd like to "do a couple more plays" and possibly a movie appearance or a TV show if offered, but she's "almost done acting."
And what will Parker do once she steps away from the spotlight?
"I would write, still. I write for Esquire and writing makes me happy," she says. "I would take care of my kids and my goats. That's about it. Bake. Throw my internet in the lake."
Parker, who has been acting since her late teens, ruffled some feathers a few years back when she compared being trailed by the paparazzi to sexual assault.