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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAmerican Pie<\/em> star Shannon Elizabeth has lived in South Africa since 2016 \u2014 and she recently revealed there was one pivotal moment that confirmed her decision to leave the U.S.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen I first went out there, and I came back, I was living in New York at the time,\u201d the actor, 52, told Fox News Digital. <\/em>\u201cAnd I remember this moment of standing at a crosswalk. Everybody\u2019s looking down at their phones, or they\u2019re on their phones. The crosswalk changes, and everybody just starts rushing each way. Nobody\u2019s paying attention except to whatever is in their hand at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\nShe recalled, \u201cI just had this feeling come over me of feeling like I had just been to Africa, and the problems there felt so real \u2014 and they are real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elizabeth said she felt that daily life in New York did not feel as crucial as the \u201cwar that\u2019s happening with wildlife\u201d and the people in need in South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it just felt like my phone and the work I was doing here just weren\u2019t as important at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cI just felt like I needed to be closer to the issues. I needed to go over there and try to figure out what I could do, that I wasn\u2019t making a difference here. That\u2019s when I decided I\u2019m going to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Former actor Shannon Elizabeth left the US to live in South Africa in 2016 (WireImage for Edelman Public Relations)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nElizabeth played the mysterious exchange student Nadia in the raunchy 1999 hit comedy, which launched her to fame in the early aughts. She went on to land roles in Scary Movie<\/em> in 2000, Love Actually<\/em> in 2003 and That \u201870s Show<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\nWhile the Texas native kept up with her acting career, she also launched a dog and cat rescue called Animal Avengers in 2001. After running the organization for over a decade in Los Angeles, her activism and interest in endangered animals led her to travel abroad starting in 2015.<\/p>\n
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Shannon Elizabeth starred as Nadia in 1999 comedy \u2018American Pie\u2019 (Universal Pictures)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cI just wanted to understand what I could do to help,\u201d Elizabeth told the outlet. \u201cI love the U.S., but I also love exploring. I love other countries. I love other cultures and learning. And I think for a long time, I was immersed here. I knew what it was like here, and I just wanted a change. I just wanted something different and to feel like I was doing something more important than just working on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elizabeth now lives in Cape Town and works as the president of the Shannon Elizabeth Foundation, which she founded, and runs the foundation\u2019s Khusela Endangered Wildlife Sanctuary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth has lived in South Africa since 2016 \u2014 and she recently revealed there was one pivotal moment that confirmed her decision to leave the U.S. \u201cWhen I first went out there, and I came back, I was living in New York at the time,\u201d the actor, 52, told Fox News Digital. \u201cAnd I remember this moment of standing at a crosswalk. Everybody\u2019s looking down at their phones, or they\u2019re on their phones. The crosswalk changes, and everybody just starts rushing each way. Nobody\u2019s paying attention except to whatever is in their hand at that moment.\u201d She recalled, \u201cI just had this feeling come over me of feeling like I had just been to Africa, and the problems there felt so real \u2014 and they are real.\u201d Elizabeth said she felt that daily life in New York did not feel as crucial as the \u201cwar that\u2019s happening with wildlife\u201d and the people in need in South Africa. \u201cAnd it just felt like my phone and the work I was doing here just weren\u2019t as important at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cI just felt like I needed to be cl…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}