Gary Sinise discusses decision to step away from acting amid family tragedy: 'I had to stop'

The "Forrest Gump" actor lost his son to cancer in January.

Gary Sinise opened up about the decision to step away from Hollywood to be with his family during difficult times.

Speaking with Fox News, the Forrest Gump actor said he put his career on pause in 2019 and made the move from Los Angeles to Nashville in 2021 to care for his late son McCanna, who died in January from a rare form of bone cancer, and his wife Moira Harris, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Related: Gary Sinise announces death of son McCanna at 33 after rare cancer battle: 'We are heartbroken'

"We were in the cancer fight during that time," said Sinise. "My wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. My son was diagnosed with this very rare cancer within two months of each other. My dad had just had a stroke, and my mom was alone, and I had to take care of her. I kind of had my hands full."

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Harris has since gone into remission and is now cancer-free, though their late son's battle with the diagnosis was  "especially difficult," said Sinise. McCanna, also referred to as "Mac," was diagnosed in 2018. He died at the age of 33. "Our son was fighting this cancer with no cure," said Sinise. "Trying to find drugs and doctors or anybody that could do anything for him was like a full-time job."

Sinise, an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Tony Award winner, is known for such roles as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump and George Wallace in the historical drama of the same name. He starred as Dr. Robert Ellman on drama series 13 Reasons Why and Sheriff Westin in the movie Joe Bell before he stepped away from Hollywood. "I had to stop," said Sinise. "Traveling away from the family for long periods of time wasn't possible with what we were going through."

The actor is briefly stepping back into the spotlight to release his son's posthumous album Resurrection & Revival: Part 2. "He had achieved something that he set out to do, which was to record all this music in May and make a full album of it," said Sinise of Mac, a musician who was a graduate of  USC's Thornton School of Music. "That gave me a lot of joy, just watching him kind of enjoy those moments."