James Corden has admitted not everyone seems convinced about the nature of his exit from The Late, Late Show since he relocated back to the UK.
Last year, James stepped down as the host of his US talk show in order for him and his family to be able to spend more time in his home country.
However, it appears not everyone believes the Gavin & Stacey creator when he tells them how things played out.
“No one believes that I wasn’t fired,” he revealed during Tuesday’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“I’ll be in a pub or something, and people will be like, ‘so why’d you come back?’, and I’ll say, ‘my son has finished sixth grade and we really wanted to have a relationship with his grandparents…’, and people will honestly be like, ‘you don’t have to give me that s***’. It’s fine, mate. If you got fired you got fired…’.”
He added: “Nobody thinks you would ever leave what is, let’s be honest, a cushy existence.”
Earlier in the interview, James told his fellow talk show host about the “adjustment” since saying farewell to his nightly show.
“You don’t understand how institutionalised you are,” he insisted. “It’s extraordinary.
“But you’re institutionalised in a world where you get a standing ovation at the end of every day. And what I’ve realised is it’s really bad for you. It’s really, really bad for you.”
Since his return to the UK, though, James says he’s now experiencing “the opposite” from his family, particularly his young children, who were raised in LA during the years the Cats actor was hosting his talk show.
Although his talk show days are behind him, James still regularly rubs shoulders with A-listers on his interview podcast series This Life Of Mine.
He’s also preparing to return to the West End in new play The Constituent, in which he shares the stage with Motherland and Line Of Duty star Anna Maxwell Martin.