Chris Hemsworth has turned Australia’s one-time sleepy beach town of Byron Bay into the new Hollywood – at least that’s how the locals feel about it … and they’re pissed off.
A new report from news.com.au describes the old Byron Bay residents’ disdain for the Hemsworths – especially Chris, who has made the area his permanent home – for the fact that he is attracting more and more celebrities, and the baggage that goes with it.
Apart from Chris, there are now also other celebrities who occasionally live in town and / or rent or own a house Zac Efron, Mark Wahlberg, Natalie Portman, Matt Damon, Olivia Newton-John, Nicole Kidman, Jack Johnson, Melissa McCarthy – to name a few. And don’t get us started with those stars who come to visit early and often … which spans the whole spectrum of the rich and famous.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fischer have been popping in lately, and so have Aussie stars Sam Burgess, Katie Richie, Michelle Bridges. It has become a who’s who type of place – which many regular residents hate … as the atmosphere of their once-quiet town is now inundated with limousines, tourists, paparazzi, soaring house prices and commerce like never before .
One person described how they were thrown out of their home because their landlady wanted to turn the crib into an Airbnb – which is characteristic of what many Byron Bay residents say is happening … they are priced and from a city they know as home .
Ironically, the article on news.com.au shows Chris Hemsworth – whose fortress of an estate has apparently become a navigation milestone – as a man who is not so much into the people. He is rarely seen in the city and keeps his family and affairs private.
Locals say it’s rich he wants seclusion as he’s invited the exact opposite into their lives … by putting them on the map, in the worst possible ways.