Kevin Bacon’s Dream Caused Huge Fight with Wife

Long before Hollywood elites turned raising kids into a tabloid circus, Kevin Bacon just wanted something simple: land, peace, a dog, and some honest work.

Fresh off the 1984 hit Footloose, Bacon says he was ready to leave the spotlight and embrace rural America.

“I just thought, I’ll live alone with a dog on a farm. I don’t need fame. I don’t need people,” Bacon confessed in a recent YouTube interview on Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals. “It might sound corny… but I like to be out there, chopping wood.”

But Kyra Sedgwick, his wife of 36 years, wasn’t buying the “simple life” pitch. Born and raised in New York, Sedgwick had a very different vision: kids in private schools, theater on weekends, and shopping in the Village.

“She told me straight up—‘This is horrible. I want to go out to lunch. I want to go to the movies. I want to live in the city,’” Bacon recalled.

That disagreement turned into what Bacon called the “biggest fight we’ve ever had in our lives.” And it wasn’t over money or fidelity—it was about where to raise their children.

At the time, the couple was living in a “funky, small, rundown farmhouse” in western Connecticut. Bacon was chopping wood. Sedgwick was losing patience.

This wasn’t just a marital spat—it was a cultural clash. Bacon longed for a lifestyle rooted in American grit and solitude. Sedgwick wanted the perks of urban liberal life. He was ready to retreat to simplicity. She was pulling toward the hustle of city living.

“She was right,” Bacon admitted—reluctantly. “Moving to Manhattan was the greatest thing we ever did. But at the time, I couldn’t see it.”

Still, it wasn’t easy. This was pre-Tremors, post-Footloose. Money was tight. Bacon didn’t know if they could even afford an apartment in the city.

“All the things I was afraid of not happening, happened,” he added. “She was right—again.”

Despite raising their two kids, Travis and Sosie, in Manhattan, Bacon says they never pushed the Hollywood lifestyle on them.

“We really avoided it,” he said. “I fought tooth and nail for fame—but they didn’t. I didn’t want to shove them into that world.”

In fact, he admits asking his adult kids, now both working in entertainment, whether they resent the fame that shadowed their childhoods.

“They just won’t go there,” Bacon said. “They refuse to say it was hard. But I tell them, ‘It’s OK. Be mad at me if you want.’”

While Bacon and Sedgwick made their life in the city, the values he clung to—privacy, humility, hard work—still shine through. And today, they’re a rarity in the Hollywood echo chamber.

Now, the family’s full circle. Their new horror movie Family Movie brings Kevin, Kyra, and their two kids together on screen for the first time.

“It’s a dream,” Bacon told US Weekly. “The craziest part? Our kids actually like hanging out with us.”

He says the secret to their long marriage and strong family ties isn’t red carpets or premieres—it’s staying close, working hard, and not taking each other for granted.

“We all have our own careers. But when we get to work together, it’s gold,” Bacon said. “That’s the real win.”

While many Hollywood stars lose themselves chasing fame, Kevin Bacon tried to walk away from it—and still built a tight-knit American family. He may not have won the battle for the farmhouse, but he found a way to raise his kids without raising them in the circus.

Sounds like the kind of father America could use more of.