Ashton reveals Mila Kunis talked him out of flying into space
Kutcher was famously the 500th person to buy a sixfigure ticket to space from Virgin Galactic, way back in March 2012, when the ‘That 70s Show’ alum was the highest-paid actor in television
You know how much fun Richard Branson and his mates appeared to be having on their Virgin Galactic edge-of-space flight last week? Ashton Kutcher will be having none of that fun. Blame Mila Kunis — and those darn kids of theirs. Kutcher was famously the 500th person to buy a six-figure ticket to space from Virgin Galactic, way back in March 2012, when the “That 70s Show” alum was the highest-paid actor in television. Virgin Group founder Branson blogged about it at the time, noting that the actor and venture capitalist had “a childhood dream of going to space.”
Unfortunately, some other childhoods got in the way, Kutcher revealed on Thursday in an interview with Cheddar News, where he had been riffing on cryptocurrency. “You just hit on a really sensitive subject for me,” the former “Two and a Half Men” star said when asked about his Virgin Galactic plans. “When I got married (to Kunis) and had kids, my wife basically encouraged that it was not a smart family decision to be heading into space when we have young children,” he said. “So I ended up selling my ticket back to Virgin Galactic.” Thank goodness it was refundable. The 43-year-old didn’t say exactly when he had backed out. Kutcher split from first wife Demi Moore in 2011 and finalized that divorce in October 2013. He and Kunis went public as a couple in fall 2012, had a baby in 2014 and got married in June 2015. Their second child arrived late in 2016.
Branson had bragged in 2012 that Virgin Galactic expected to put paying passengers in the sky by 2013 or 2014. Instead, he finally hit the skies last Sunday with five Virgin Galactic employees, beating rival billionaire Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin by nine whole days. Kutcher, meanwhile, seemed a litle confused about the details as he kept talking to Cheddar. “I was supposed to be on the next flight,” Kutcher said, apparently forgeting that as passenger No. 500 he might have had to wait a bit. “But I will not be on the next flight.”
Still, he’s keeping his dream alive, maybe for when daughter Wyat and son Dimitri are grown. And who knows, by then space travel might be a litle more ordinary than it seems to be this week. “At some point,” Kutcher promised, “I’m going to space.” Ashton began his acting career portraying Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom “That 70s Show” (1998–2006). He made his film debut in the romantic comedy “Coming Soon” (1999), followed by the comedy film “Dude, Where’s My Car?” (2000), which was a box office hit.
In 2003, Kutcher moved into romantic comedies, appearing in that year’s “Just Married and My Boss’s Daughter.” Kutcher subsequently appeared in more romantic comedies, including “Guess Who” (2005), “A Lot Like Love” (2005), “What Happens in Vegas” (2008), and “No Strings Atached” (2011). In 2016, he appeared in the “Candy, Quahog Marshmallow” episode of Family Guy. Since 2016, he has starred in the Neflix series, The Ranch, alongside Danny Masterson, Elisha Cuthbert and Debra Winger.