CLAIRE DANES - CLAIRE DANES: WHY I QUIT HOLLYWOOD

ROMEO + JULIET star CLAIRE DANES insists leaving Hollywood for three years was the best decision she could have made.

Sexy Claire, 24, swapped Tinseltown for YALE UNIVERSITY - right after picking up a $3 million (GBP2 million) paycheck for her part in the SHAKESPEARE movie.

And she insists she had no regrets, "I had been working nonstop since the age of 12 and needed to cling to some sort of normality.

"Everyone, apart from my close friends and family, said I was crazy to give it all up. Yet it was the sanest thing I could have done.

"I was becoming confused, screwed-up and insecure. I am now happier with life and myself. I used to freak out when I thought of what was expected of me."

And Claire's gamble certainly paid off - her next film is the most expensive ever made, TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, released this summer (03).