‘Grease’ star Stockard Channing says she’s ‘happy being a recluse’ after leaving America

Stockard Channing admitted she's "happy being a recluse" as she reflected on her quiet lifestyle after fleeing the states for the United Kingdom .

The "Grease" star began living in London "just before COVID," a move she envisioned after the 2014 death of her partner of 25 years, producer Daniel Gilham.

"I've lived alone since I lost Daniel and I'm happy being a recluse," Channing wrote in an essay for The Sunday Times .

"I was married four times before Daniel, and they all represent epochs of me.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR SAYS SHE LIVES 'FAR AWAY' FROM HOLLYWOOD AND STAYS OUT OF THE SOCIAL SCENE "I grew up in the sixties, reacting to that repressed notion of marriage and sexuality from the fifties kinda like Rizzo," she noted.

"Children were thought about and, yeah, I think about them now because it'd be great to have someone taking care of me.

But, hey, children can be just as selfish as everybody else out there." Channing, 82, confessed that Gilham's death "was more devastating than I realized; it had a lag effect." ‘SOPRANOS’ STAR JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER FLED HOLLYWOOD FOR TEXAS WHERE SHE NO LONGER FEELS ‘WATCHED’ "The pattern of my life shifted, so I shifted my life from Maine," she wrote of the move, which also vaguely coincided with Trump's second presidential bid.

"When I started playing 'The West Wing's first lady, Abbey Bartlet, in 1999, we were about to move to the second Bush administration," she wrote.

"The cast had a good look at that Washington world, and there seemed to be a level of honest, intelligent discourse that is missing from 2026.

"People look at 'The West Wing' and go, 'Wow, wasn't it great when politicians had an ounce of integrity?' Abbey didn't suffer fools, and she's the character most like me in real life." Channing reflected on an interaction with director Aaron Sorkin , who said he "wrote Abbey as the person he saw in me." "I was quite short with him the first time we met," she wrote.

"He was saying all these nice things, and I said, 'Look, I don't have time for flattery.' I didn't mean to be rude it was just one of those days." LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS Her days of stardom are slightly different from now as the "Six Degrees of Separation" actress detailed her morning routine, which begins at 7 a.m. when her dog wakes her up.

"After he's had his breakfast and I've made a strong pot of coffee, my dog walker takes him out and I go back to bed," she wrote.

"My ideal morning." "My duvet is covered in ink spots because for many years I've been keeping a diary.

I sit there with my fountain pen and my thoughts.