The months that followed the cancer diagnosis of Austin Butler’s mother, Lori, were marked by suffering. “I’d never experienced pain like that before,” he said on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Actor Roundtable” in January 2023. Shortly after Lori’s death, Butler jetted off to New Zealand to shoot “The Shannara Chronicles,” which he enjoyed but didn’t love. Having fun wasn’t enough at that point. “I was dealing with grief, but it was also this feeling that I wasn’t aligned with something that felt truly fulfilling,” he said.
The experience made Butler look at his career from a different perspective as he lived out his worry and pain in cold hospital settings. “Suddenly I was around doctors and people that were hurting a lot in hospitals, and I thought, ‘Is acting a noble profession? Should I be doing this or should I give myself in some way that can help people who are dealing with cancer or something like that?'” he questioned.
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But he’s glad he didn’t. Butler knew how much Lori had done for his career and knows how proud she would be of him for where he’s gotten. “She sacrificed so much. She quit her job to drive me to auditions … And also, when she was in high school she wanted to be an actor, so I think I’m sort of getting to live this life for both of us in that way,” he said on Today’s “Sunday Sitdown” in February.
