Chad Murray looks back on his early fame and the lessons he learned.
In a recent chat on the Like A Farmer podcast, the now 44-year-old actor spoke candidly about his acting days in the 2000s and expressed his gratitude for the difficult experiences.
When host Pat Spinosa referred to Murray as “that guy” in the early 2000s, it prompted the actor to confess that success at a young age comes with its own costs.
For those unfamiliar, Murray became a household name with the hit teen drama The One Tree Hill star, following his hit roles in Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek.
“You’ll never know if you’re in it. And I think if you do, it’s a problem,” Murray told the host. “If you know you’re the man and you’re in the moment, that’s probably a problem because your ego gets inflated to some extent, right?”
As he reflected, Murray said he would “do it all over again.”
“I wouldn’t change a thing…and the only reason I say that is because I wouldn’t have my wife and kids. I wouldn’t be where I am today. I probably wouldn’t have found the Lord. I probably wouldn’t have been as grateful as I am to go to work every day.”
Murray went on to say there was “no book” on how to deal with fame, recalling the days after he moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and landed the blockbuster roles.
“I grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘Let’s go. Let’s have some fun.’ And we did. We had a lot of fun,” he said.
Murray went on to say, “And if I look back and have a lot of regrets about it? Of course. What a crazy time.”
“I’m so grateful there were no camera phones around,” he added.
He concluded with a confession that his mistakes were real teachers. Murray said, “Because if I had kept winning, I think I probably would have destroyed myself. I think God said, ‘Okay, let’s back off. Let’s put the cart in reverse. Like, you have to be a little humble.’ I’m grateful for it, dude.”
