‘Transformers’ Star Ditched Hollywood to Build ‘Doomsday Cabin’

Transformers star Josh Duhamel stepped away from Hollywood in order to "stay true to [his] roots."

"I make movies and TV shows, and I love it, I truly do love it, but I had this calling to go and really do things with my hands again. Fix things, make things and just do the basic things that we take for granted,” Duhamel, 52, told People. 

The Safe Haven actor explained that he purchased a plot of land in North Dakota before building what he calls his "doomsday cabin."

"I'm really more of a guy who wants to stay true to my roots, get back to the basics, hone whatever basic skills I need in this world of massive technology, to do the basic things to provide for my family,” he told the outlet. "We're at a place now where it feels done. It's completely livable now.”

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 07: Josh Duhamel is seen on May 07, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

Duhamel previously explained that his family compound "started with one little cabin in the woods with no electricity and no water." 

"Then, the cabin on the property next to that one went up for sale, and I bought it for like nothing; this beautiful little idyllic cabin on the water," he told Inverse in 2023. "Suddenly I had 54 acres out there. So I had two cabins, one with no electricity or water. They both have wells and electricity now, but they're both really small."

The former soap opera actor, who shares son Axl with ex-wife Fergie and son Shepherd with wife Audra Mari, admitted he had become "a bit of a doomsday prepper," learning how to hunt and garden. 

"I'm building something so if things do go south, I have a place to take my family. And I believe that we could live off the land out there. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm getting there," he said in 2023.