Bryan Cranston Clears Up Retirement Rumors: "I Am Not Retiring"

Bryan Cranston is clarifying his recent comments about his retirement plans. In a June 8 interview with British GQ, Cranston, 67, explained that he intends to retire in 2026 when he'll be 70. And his retirement won't just be from acting: he also wants to shut down his production company and sell his half of the mezcal tequila company he runs with "Breaking Bad" costar Aaron Paul.

"I want to change the paradigm once again," Cranston told the outlet about his decision, adding his wife, Robin Dearden, is at the center of his choice. "For the last 24 years, Robin has led her life holding onto my tail. She's been the plus one, she's been the wife of a celebrity. She's had to pivot and adjust her life based on mine. She has tremendous benefit from it, but we're uneven. I want to level that out. She deserves it."

He added that he wants the two of them to live in a small village in France, cooking and tending to a garden. "I want to have that experience. I want to go for day trips and have the fire in the fireplace and drink wine with new friends and not read scripts," he said. "It's about taking a chance. I'm used to that feeling – of not knowing."

In an Instagram post on June 10, Cranston clarified his comments, saying, he wanted to "set the record straight." He wrote, "I am not retiring. What I am going to do is hit the pause button for a year after I reach my 70th birthday in 2026. Holy crap - 70! I'm not even sure what 'pausing' means entirely, but at this moment, I think it means that by taking a year off it will provide several things."

He continued: "First, it will allow me to spend time with Robin (my beautiful wife of 34 years now) in a way that I haven't been able to in the last 25 years…not as a wife of a celebrity, but as a loving married couple entering into - well, let's be honest, our latter years, with new hopes and goals and experiences. Secondly, it gives me a sort of 'reset' in my career. I've had such an unbelievable ride for over two decades - with playing characters on TV, films, and on stage that I could only have dreamt about…until it actually happened. I could not be more grateful and thankful for such opportunities. That said, I feel as though I'm beginning to run out of fresh ideas in how to play characters that I'm being offered. So exploring a more expanded life experience will give me the chance to replenish my soul and prepare for whatever roles I may be afforded in a more authentic way."

Cranston also said that he intends to "unplug from social media, step off the hamster wheel of business, and dive into the classic novels that I've always promised myself I would read but haven't." However, before then, he has "some unfinished business." He concluded, "Several films are coming out soon that I'm very proud of, I am producing a few stories for TV that I really love, and I am circling my attention on returning to Broadway - but this time in a new light…more on that later. For now, let me just express my deep gratitude to all of you who have been so incredibly kind and generous with your time in reading my posts and following my career. I never take my good fortune for granted. I am blessed, and man, do I know it. I wish all of you well…and I'll see you down the road."

Cranston and Dearden married in 1989 after meeting on a TV set (Cranston was previously married to writer Mickey Middleton from 1977 to 1982). They were working on the 1986 CBS series "Airwolf." Cranston was a hijacker who was holding a sorority cruise hostage; Dearden was a hostage.

"He actually had a gun to my head," Dearden told People in 2016. "It was 30 years ago that we met on that terrible TV show," Cranston added. "It changed both of our lives."

"He had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend at the time," Dearden explained. "But I thought that he was the funniest man that I had ever met. I said, 'He's kind of cute, he's got a gun...'" Cranston told the outlet that he thinks the fact that they were both unavailable actually helped their bond form. "But because she had a boyfriend and I had a girlfriend, we were able to flirt without the heavy sexual tension," he said. They reconnected a year later, both single. The couple have one daughter, actor Taylor Dearden.

Dearden, 69, made frequent TV appearances in the 1980s, including in the "Nine to Five" TV series and "Murder, She Wrote." She scaled back in the '90s, though she did appear in one episode of Cranston's "Breaking Bad" in 2010.

In 2014, Cranston shared his favorite thing about his wife in a conversation with "Humans From New York." "She still gets giddy when she sees a firefly," he said. Too cute.