Here's What Happened To Helen Hunt After Stepping Back From Hollywood

Helen Hunt is far from an obscure name in Hollywood. With over 100 acting credits to her name, Hunt has been on the hunt for roles since the 1970s. Yet her career heyday was largely in the late '80s and '90s. She had one-off or recurring guest roles in several TV shows, including "It Takes Two," where she spent nearly two dozen episodes playing Lisa Quinn. But when she came on the scene as Jamie Buchman in "Mad About You" from 1992 to 1999 (with a dozen-episode revival stint in 2019), Hunt became a household name. Buchman became such a big part of Hunt's life that she even guest-starred in the role in an episode of "Friends" in 1995. 

Even still, she had hearty roles like Dr. Jo Harding in "Twister" and Carol Connelly in "As Good As It Gets" after that. Roles hit Hunt's career like mad during and after her long run in "Mad About You." After 2000, however, when she knocked out a bunch of roles, she started to slow down. Hunt still appears in shows and movies now and again, just with much less fervor and frequency. With the exception of her role as Rainey in "Blindspotting," Hunt has mostly been mastering the art of prioritizing her personal life rather than her professional one. So, what's she been up to for the last two decades in between her short acting gigs? 

Particularly after starring in "As Good as It Gets" with Jack Nicholson in 1997, Helen Hunt got a taste of losing her privacy. Paparazzi were hounding her in ways she hadn't experienced, and it was something she didn't want to have to get used to. "There were a couple of years when I was a little spooked," she told The Guardian. "I was afraid that I could never unring that bell...I just became very boring." She acknowledged to the paper that some celebs can keep up with that nonstop barrage, but it was something she just wasn't interested in doing. 

Hunt witnessed firsthand how overwhelming stardom can become to a person by witnessing the star obsession around Nicholson. She made an active choice to channel whatever energy she would've needed to keep that up into her personal life instead, thereby maintaining a more normal life with a lot less paparazzi interaction. In fact, she'd intentionally wear similar outfits to be less interesting for whatever paparazzo would find her, which would also explain why the buzz died down.

It should come as no big surprise that Helen Hunt's gradual shift away from Hollywood coincided with her journey into motherhood. Her daughter, Makena'Lei Gordon, was born in 2004. Hunt and former longtime partner, Matthew Carnahan, had Gordon together. Her own relationship with motherhood was part of Hunt's inspiration behind her role in "Then She Found Me," which was her directorial debut. The film is about a middle-aged woman trying to have a child while also searching for her own biological mother. Hunt told People that the film was created from her own "wish to have a daughter."

Since Hunt had been acting since a young age, having a child of her own gave her pause to reconcile with her own adulthood in a way she hadn't had before. "I've been working since I was 9, so I guess I've gone in and out of feeling like a grown-up from that age 'til today," she told SEC Sports on feeling grown up. "I feel like a grown-up when I'm with my daughter. That is kind of a wake-up call, to be my best self when I'm with her." That relationship with her daughter went on to inspire another film later in her career, "Ride."

After directing her first film, "Then She Found Me," Helen Hunt got her feet wet yet again with another project: "Ride." This time, however, she wrote, directed, and starred in the film — showing off some surfing skills in the process. "Ride" again focuses on a mother who opts to leave her job to follow her college drop-out son while also learning to surf. Part of the film's message is to remind parents, mothers in particular, that it's important to allow yourself to play and live, too. As much as it was a film about parenthood, it was also a kind of love letter to her L.A. home, namely its beaches and surfin. 

As Hunt told the Los Angeles Times, "This movie is really a valentine to L.A. I'm a second generation L.A. resident. Both my parents were born in L.A. It's not just a place I came to go into show business. I have a great love for L.A. and the locations reflect that." Most of Hunt's trifecta project was filmed on Venice Beach, where she got to spend hours at a time in the water. In fact, most of the surfing scenes were actually Hunt. Surfing became a passion of hers almost two decades ago. 

Helen Hunt and producer Matthew Carnahan started dating in 2001 and welcomed their daughter, Makena'Lei, together. But in 2017 — after 16 years together — the couple called it quits for the last time. A source close to them told the Daily Mail that the breakup was hard. That insider went on to tell the publication that trust issues were at the heart of the split. "[Hunt] was convinced Matthew had strayed," they said. "She had been suspicious for a long time that something was wrong. But he insisted he didn't betray her."

While they appeared to be a happy couple to friends, an insider told InTouch that things weren't okay for a while. "Matthew moved out a few times over the years. Helen would always take him back, and then time would pass and she'd kick him out again." It is believed they stayed together as long as they did because their daughter was so young. When the two did split, their daughter was 13. 

In October 2019, Helen Hunt was riding in the back of an SUV when the vehicle was t-boned and flipped over onto its side. When it was struck, the SUV was trying to go through an intersection. Hunt was taken to the hospital, along with several other people involved in the accident, and was released later in the day. Police determined that the accident was not a crime. However, Hunt filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the limousine service responsible for the SUV at the time of the accident. 

Hunt's lawsuit against the limo company was for compensatory damages related to negligence on the part of the driver. Specifically, she cited several issues stemming from the accident, including "personal injury, wage loss, hospital and medical expenses, general damage, loss of earning capacity" as well as "loss of earnings, emotional distress, pain and suffering, economic and non-economic damages." There is no sign that the lawsuit concluded or that the parties came to an agreement outside of court.