MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA: We all know Josh Duhamel as an acclaimed actor and philanthropist. However, it seems he's quite the doomsday prepper as well. After he shot to prominence on the popular soap opera 'All My Children', the actor has starred in everything from the 'Transformers' movies to Netflix's short-lived superhero series 'Jupiter's Legacy'.
When he's not working, Duhamel likes to spend his time living off the grid at a cabin in North Dakota. The 'Buddy Games: Spring Awakening' star recently opened up about how he's been slowly building a self-sustaining, remote compound that he believes could possibly survive the apocalypse.
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'Learning how to hunt'
"I've become a bit of a doomsday prepper, I guess," he told Inverse. "So I'm learning how to hunt. I have wells. We have water. We have fuel. I'm building something so if things do go south, I have a place to take my family. And I believe that we could live off the land out there. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm getting there."
Duhamel previously explained that it began "with one little cabin in the woods with no electricity and no water" readily available for consumption. "We would go and we didn't wanna stay for more than a day or two," he recalled. "You could tell the mice had overrun it. It was disgusting." However, things changed when a property next door went up for sale. "I bought it for like nothing; this beautiful little idyllic cabin on the water," he said. "Suddenly I had 54 acres out there. So I had two cabins, one with no electricity or water. They both have wells and electricity now, but they're both really small." While the lodgings may be "small," Duhamel noted that they are both equipped with Starlink internet, televisions, and "actual plumbing with actual flushing toilets." Nonetheless, he continues to keep two outhouses on the property "just for nostalgic reasons."
'My first time ever tilling'
The 'Blackout' star has also cultivated the land around the property and is growing crops. "We started with clover and chicory and stuff, mostly just to feed the deer," he explained. "It was my first time ever tilling, you know, clearing a space of land and tilling it and seeding it. This year I'm gonna grow pumpkins and corn." According to Inverse, the chicory and clover are part of a grand plan for the actor to be able to hunt deer should he and his family need to live solely off the land at any point. "I'm not a hunter by any means, but I have this crazy fixation on what happens if s--- hits the fan in LA and I have to take my family out there and live off the land," Duhamel said, adding, "It keeps my lizard brain active."
According to the 'Bandit' actor, the idea for his doomsday-proof compound came together after he learned about a community where people were only allowed to stay if they offered pivotal survival skills for the group. Furthermore, he also read James Wesley Rawles' 2020 book 'Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse', which "freaked me out a little bit." Duhamel added, "I'm not saying I'm that crazy about it, but it is a comforting feeling knowing that I could survive out there. I'm working on those skills. I wouldn't call myself an expert or a survivalist by any means, but I'm getting better at it."
