James Corden Reveals British People Genuinely Believe He Was 'Fired' from Late Late Show
Corden, who departed from 'The Late Late Show' in April 2023, told Jimmy Kimmel that Brits don't find his voluntary exit all that believable
James Corden hasn’t exactly had the most warm welcome home since leaving Los Angeles.
The former Late Late Show host stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday and gave an update on how he’s been settling into life in London, where he and his family relocated last year following the end of his long-running CBS program in April 2023.
Corden, 45, admitted to host Jimmy Kimmel that it’s been an “adjustment” in the year since his departure.
“You don’t understand how institutionalized you are. It’s extraordinary. But it’s like, you’re institutionalized in a world where you get a standing ovation at the end of every day. And that is — what I’ve realized — is it’s really bad for you,” he told Kimmel of the transition.
As for how he’s been received since his return to his native U.K., Corden joked that while “people are very nice,” they don’t believe he simply chose to leave the show on his own terms.
“No one believes that I wasn’t fired. I’ll be in a pub or something and people will be like, oh yeah…. They’ll be like, ‘So why’d you come back?’ and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, 'cause Max has finished 6th grade and we really wanted him to have a relationship with his grandparents,’” he recalled. "And people will honestly be like, ‘You don’t have to give me that bulls---. It’s fine, mate. If you got fired, you got fired.’”
Corden said that he thinks that’s the response he gets because “nobody thinks you would ever leave what is — let’s be honest — a cushy existence.”
Kimmel, 56, suggested that the Prom actor should get a letter from CBS officially stating he was not, in fact, fired, to which Corden replied, “I would, except they don’t know what CBS is. So they’ll go, ‘Well, that’s not a real thing.’ And then I have to tell them what the show was, and they’ll go, ‘Hang on, it was on at 12:30 at night? That’s a ridiculous time to put a TV show on.’”
Corden has long been vocal about how his decision to leave the Late Late Show hosting gig was out of a desire to reunite his family.
After revealing the news that his 2023 season would be his last, Corden told Extra that his kids — daughters Charlotte, 6, Carey, 9, and son Max, 11, who he shares with wife Julia Carey — "are getting older" and so are their grandparents, "and it perhaps just felt like the right time for us as a family to be freer in our decisions."
Related: Jimmy Kimmel Hints 'This Is My Final Contract' as Possible End to His Long-Running Talk Show Looms
Since his departure, Corden has started a new venture, a radio show on SiriusXM titled This Life of Mine with James Corden.
“I am thrilled to be joining SiriusXM,” he said in November 2023 when the news was announced. “Scott and the whole team have made me feel so welcome as I start this new chapter. It’s a dream to have a space to engage in deep conversations with the people whose work and talent I greatly admire.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The show has seen guests ranging from David Beckham and Dr. Dre to Julianne Moore and the Kardashians — including a particularly emotional interview with Kris Jenner, who teared up after hearing her daughter Kim, 43, gush about why her mom is her favorite person.
"She takes care of us, we take care of her, she's just the greatest mom on the planet," Kim told Corden in the clip that was then shown to Jenner, 68, who responded, "Kim is the best, there's nobody better."
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.