How Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed Built a Life Away From Hollywood

Originally appeared on E! Online

No one needs to tell Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed that the Hollywood grind is way overrated.

But getting their hands dirty is where it's at.

"Things are busy," Reed told New Beauty last year of the back-to-the-land life she and Somerhalder are leading with their 6-year-old daughter and 11-month-old son (plus horses, dogs, goats, etc.) miles away from Los Angeles. "I don't want to glorify the overworking culture, but work doesn't seem to stop on the weekends these days!"

As Somerhalder put it to E! News in November, the couple are full-on "farm people" now.

"We produce most of our own food," the Vampire Diaries alum said. "I live in my cowboy boots."

And he and Reed, who turns 36 on May 17, have more irons in the fire than ever after putting acting on the back burner several years ago, teaming up for the eco-minded documentary Common Ground and launching their The Absorption Company line of supplements in January.

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"I feel like every time I say, 'This is the year of slowdown,' things just rev up!" Reed, who called herself an "aspiring farmer," told New Beauty. "There are so many things that are so important all at the same time, right? Right now, raising babies is the most important thing for me."

And in addition to her ventures with her husband of nine years, she's got her socially minded jewelry business BaYou With Love, which she hopes to be moving into a brick-and-mortar location this year, plus everyday hectic life as a mama of two to deal with.

"Literally, everything is all hitting at the same time," she noted, "and everything is important."

But there's no doubt in her household that she's got this—whatever this is at any given time.

"I have never met a more resourceful human being," Somerhalder said of Reed in 2022. "I think together, with our combined skills, we could live forever on an island. You can drop us on an island, and we would be okay."

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But two actors don't just walk away from their beachside home in Malibu if they're not on the same recycled-paper page about what they really want out of life.

"To be fully transparent about it, I really did not want to be in the public eye anymore," Reed told Santa Barbara Magazine in 2022. So she was onboard with retreating up the coast a bit, noting, "California has the ability to offer seclusion, but you can also be in driving distance to these major cities at the drop of a hat."

Noting their "amazing run" in Hollywood, Somerhalder told E! News at a Jan. 11 screening of Common Ground that he did appreciate the family and community to be found on set.

"I love what I did for a really long time," said the Brothers Bond Bourbon co-founder, who's in the liquor business with former costar Paul Wesley. "I love making films, I just did it for so long."

And Reed was on the same page—reading the exact same line, in fact—about trying to live a more sustainable life.

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In her 20s, "I started connecting the dots between what you do for the planet and what you do for yourself," Reed told E!. "It's an evolution and a lifelong pursuit."

And when the Twilight actress and her family hit the road, as they like to do in their tricked-out Fleetwood RV when wanderlust strikes, the destination hardly matters so long as it's off the grid.

"If I could like tell you my dream," Reed said, "it would be to achieve total food autonomy, to have zero connection to a supermarket, to city water, to anything like that—to be able to live without relying on any system. So, you know, we're not too far off from that."

Keep reading for scenes from the road Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder have been traveling together for a decade:

Nikki's First TikTok

New Year's Eve 2023

Giving "Gratitude"

Birthday Boy

Rainforest Sips

Pure Bliss

Defying Gravity

Precious Peck

Sweet Snuggles

Cute Carry

Romance in the Rain

Flawless Family

Fun in the Sun

Crazy Kiss

Polaroid Perfection

Valentine's Day View

Awards Show Smooch

Greener Pastures

Black-and-White Bliss

(Originally published Dec. 8, 2023, at 4 a.m. PT)