HOLLYWOOD - Oscar-winner Russell Crowe has announced he is taking an extended hiatus from Hollywood--all in the name of love.According to two Australian newspapers, Melbourne's Herald Sun and Sydney's Morning Herald, the Aussie actor cited he was under "massive stress" and needed to be with his loved ones, including his ailing father, who is to undergo a series of operations to relieve his "excruciating pain" due to carpel tunnel syndrome in his wrists.
"I need to be available to him and my family during this time ... this is not the time to add pressure to him," he said in a statement, according to Morning Herald.
Most importantly, Crowe wants to spend more quality time with his girlfriend, singer Danielle Spencer.
"Let me clarify something else," he said. "I am in love with Danielle Spencer but I don't get to spend nearly enough time with her. Dani has been very patient with all the speculations of the past year or so which I thank her for. I feel a great need to wake up with her as many days of my life as I can."
Crowe was recently involved in a incident in a London restaurant, where tabloids report he got into a fight with a New Zealand entrepreneur and also kissed another woman.
Unfortunately, Crowe's abrupt decision may cost the in-demand actors millions of dollars. He recently finished filming Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. But this break may also mean his next movie, Ridley Scott's Tripoli, might not be made until 2004.
The actor also canceled his four-week U.S. concert tour with his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, on which they were to open for The Pretenders.