The Traitors star Alan Cumming joins exodus of anti-MAGA stars fleeing US for Britain as Donald Trump’s second Presidential term kicks off

Scottish star Alan Cumming has revealed he’s planning to move back to Britain after more than a quarter of a century living in America.

The award-winning actor moved to New York in 1998 after starring in Cabaret on Broadway. 

He went on to have a glittering career in the States, where he was nominated for two Golden Globes and three Emmys for his starring role in the hit series The Good Wife.

In 2008 he even became an American citizen. 

But the 59 year-old now says he eventually wants to die in his home country after realizing that Americans don’t share his values.

Alan, who currently hosts the US version of the award-winning reality TV series The Traitors, said: ‘My husband Grant and I are planning to split our time more between here and New York, rather than before we had a holiday home here.

‘I’ve definitely been planning to do that just as a thing in my life, but also my work.

‘I’m now doing The Traitors, so once a year I’m here for a month and I made two films here last year. It’s almost like the universe is pulling me back.’

The award-winning actor moved to New York in 1998 after starring in Cabaret on Broadway

Alan currently hosts the US version of the award-winning reality TV series The Traitors

Alan told Kaye Adams on her How to be 60 podcast that he wanted to be among people who felt the same way about the world as he did.

The actor, who famously starred as Russian Boris Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye, explained: ‘I feel like I am pulled back, because I really like how good it feels and how important it is to be around people who share my values. 

‘That gets really important as you get older.

‘I feel I lived in New York for a long time and I love it, but more and more with the political situation in America, I realize people don’t share my values.

‘It’s so great when you’re here, that even someone far on the right wing still thinks it’s important to have a safety net and to be kind and compassionate to people less fortunate than you.

‘In America that’s clearly not the case. You realize the American dream is really every man for himself and I just value more and more now being here. 

‘Grant was here and after a couple of months he said: ‘Gosh I just love the fact that no one around me has a gun.’

Last year Alan was announced as the new artistic director of Scotland’s Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Although he currently owns homes in both New York and Inverness, he said he saw his future in Scotland.

The actor famously starred as Russian Boris Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye

The actor met his husband, American illustrator Grant Shaffer in 2005. The couple tied the knot in New York in 2012

‘The house in the Highlands I feel is where we are going to end up and die, or go and read books and cook,’ he explained in tomorrow’s episode of How to be 60. 

‘I want to keep doing exciting things and be more based here.’

Alan, who grew up on Scotland’s east coast, also revealed he still had therapy after suffering abuse at the hands of his father when he was a child.

‘I’ve done a lot of therapy; I think of therapy as like going to the gym for your mind. I still go to therapy, I do it on zoom all over the world,’ he said. 

‘I feel very happy in my life, I don’t feel I have any ongoing big problems or issues, but I just think it’s important to have someone I talk to.’

The actor also discussed the breakdown he suffered during his eight-year marriage to actress Hilary Lyon when the couple were trying for a child.

He explained to Kaye Adams: ‘I had a nervous breakdown when I was 28 and that’s when I really remembered a lot of stuff that happened in my childhood.

‘That is what brought on what become a breakdown. Because I started to remember all these things and I worried that I was going to be the same kind of father as my father had been and everything fell apart.’

The actor met his husband, American illustrator Grant Shaffer in 2005. The couple tied the knot in New York in 2012.

DeGeneres is now taking up roots in the UK with her wife Portia de Rossi, 51, and they reportedly have no plans to return to the US

Cumming is not the first celeb to pack up shop to race over to the UK.

In November, Ellen DeGeneres announced she was making a quick exit from the United States – seemingly for good.

The 66-year-old talk show host, comedian and actress moved to rural England, according to a report in The Wrap.

DeGeneres is now taking up roots in the UK with her wife Portia de Rossi, 51, and they reportedly have no plans to return to the US.

A person close to the former Ellen DeGeneres Show host claimed that she and de Rossi were primarily skipping town in response to the 2024 presidential election, which saw Donald Trump win a second non-consecutive term.

In the same month, America Ferrera blamed Donald Trump for her desire to move to the UK from the US. 

It was reported that the Ugly Betty alum, 40, was planning to relocate across the pond with her husband, Ryan Piers Williams, and their son Sebastian, six, and daughter Lucia, four.

‘America is sick that Donald Trump is President again,’ an insider told DailyMail.com exclusively at the time. 

America Ferrera blamed Donald Trump for her desire to move to the UK from the US

‘She is devastated that Kamala lost. She thought the country she lived in was better than that.’

They said the move does not mean that she is leaving Hollywood for good, as she wants to keep a ‘presence’ in the US.

‘She is going to continue to have a presence in the US for work purposes and to fight for Latinas and women, but she will be overseas for family and to benefit her kids’ education,’ they said. 

‘She wants them to have the best opportunities possible and to her, being overseas for that is what is important.

‘She’s not abandoning the US, she is prioritizing her life and focusing on the importance for her kids.’

The actress isn’t the only star to backtrack on plans to leave. Vocal Trump critic Whoopi Goldberg famously said before the 2016 election, ‘Maybe it’s time for me to move, you know. I can afford to go.’

Goldberg later clarified that she had no intention of leaving the country, emphasizing her commitment to staying in the United States. 

In May 2024, Trump shared a meme suggesting Goldberg would move to Canada if he were elected again, adding, ‘Canada doesn’t want you Whoopi, NOBODY DOES!!!’

In response, Goldberg addressed the meme on the show stating, ‘Look, I’m not going anywhere… I know where I’m going to be because I got a contract, so I’m going to be here where I’m wanted for the next couple of years.’

Cher she had more cosmic aspirations: In June 2015, she tweeted, ‘If he were to be elected, I’m moving to Jupiter,’ but did not appear to have relocated in the years following, in which Trump was elected to office and served.

Cher in October 2023 told The Guardian that she suffered health issues as result of Trump’s previous term, and said this time she was determined to relocate from the U.S. under Trump’s leadership.

‘I almost got an ulcer the last time,’ said Cher. ‘If he gets in, who knows? This time I will leave.’

The full interview with Alan Cumming can be heard on Kaye Adams: How to be 60 podcast from Friday, available on all podcast providers