Crowe staying in Australia for kids

BANG Showbiz

RUSSELL Crowe is staying in Australia for the remainder of 2010 to be with his family.

The Robin Hood star - who has two sons, Charles, six, and four-year-old Tennyson, with wife Danielle Spencer - will not leave the country again until next year because he wants his kids to have some stability.

He said: "I don't want to get on a plane again this year. I want to take a step back and put a normal rhythm back into the kids' lives."

The 46-year-old Hollywood star knows he is lucky to have the freedom to choose exactly what roles he wants and when he wants to work.

He said: "I know what it is that turns me on in my job and I know if. something comes up that I want to do then I'm usually allowed to do it. I do the things that drive me from a pure place."

This week it was revealed Russell has agreed to take part in the $15 million production Ben Hur: The Stadium Spectacular, which is being staged in Sydney where he lives, as the narrator.

The New Zealand-born actor has previously insisted he and his family will never leave Australia, where they have two homes.

He said: "Would I settle in the US? No way. And when I got married, the young wife didn't want to be married to someone who was going to be away on a movie set all the time.

"I'm only away from home when I need to be. I want to give my kids a happy, carefree childhood at home."