Can't stay away: Celebs who threaten to retire

On January 10, Shia LaBeouf announced on Twitter that he was retiring from public life. How he'll be able to keep that up as a still-working actor is unclear, but we think LaBeouf won't be gone from "public life" for long. Just take a look at these other stars who threatened to retire -- and then never did:

Justin Bieber, at the ripe age of 19, has claimed he's ready to retire from music -- twice in one week. First he told a Los Angeles radio station that his next album would be his last. Next, he took to Twitter on Christmas Eve to try the joke again before assuring fans he'd be here "FOREVER." After the year he's had, we can't say we blame the guy for wanting to bow out. He still hasn't, of course.

Jay Z can be considered one of hip-hop's royals, but he's also the king of the retirement fake-out. The rapper announced in 2003 that "The Black Album" would be his last, but life without a mic just didn't suit him. He was back in the booth within three years. He later told Entertainment Weekly that it was maybe the worst retirement in history.

Barbra Streisand knows how to give a long goodbye. The legend gave her farewell tour in 2000, only to come back for another "this-is-it-really this-time" tour in 2006. But no one told Babs she couldn't go home again, and so in 2012, she lit up the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with a set of shows.

Alec Baldwin has quit acting so many times we wish we had wised up years ago and placed bets on his inevitable return. He's made such claims about his career swan song as recently as 2009 and 2012 -- and then went on to appear in Woody Allen's 2013 release, "Blue Jasmine."

Perhaps Justin Bieber's retirement plan is inspired by his pal Chris Brown's. The troubled singer said in August 2013 that his next album would probably be his last. He also said he's thinking about quitting music altogether -- exactly the kind of vague statement someone can go back on when they want to release a new album.

When does a "break" translate into "thinking about retirement"? When a soundbite from an A-lister gets loose. Leo DiCaprio said at the start of 2013 that he was looking forward to taking a "long, long break" from acting, leading some to apply relationship logic: if you're on a break, you're basically over. And because they've always been two peas in a pod, one of DiCaprio's favorite working partners, director Martin Scorsese, says he's thinking about hanging up the clapboard, too.

Emma Watson first started dropping the "R" word -- retirement -- in 2007, when she admitted that she was rich enough to have the option. While at the time she insisted that she wanted to keep working despite her "Harry Potter" haul, she clarified in 2009 that she didn't mean she wanted to work as an actress. She still does though, and will next be seen in 2014's "Noah."

Amanda Bynes, being the product of child fame that she is, has gone back and forth on the decision to fully commit to an early retirement. She said in 2010 that she was done with acting, only to "unretire" that same year. But by 2012, she identified herself thusly in a tweet: "I'm 26, a multi-millionaire, retired."

For some, Barbra Streisand or Johnny Depp, retirement is just some nebulous idea that may or may not come to pass. But for rapper-turned-preacher-turned-rapper Mase, it was more like a "weird journey," as he told MTV in 2012. The former Bad Boy Records star retired in 1999 because of religious reasons, but by 2004, he dropped a new, appropriately titled album called "Welcome Back."

Garth Brooks simply can't say no to his fans. The country legend initially retired in 2000 only to return in 2009 with "a series of special engagements" in Las Vegas. In case anyone was confused about Brooks' state of employment -- unretired? semiretired? -- Brooks officially confirmed that he's still a working musician when he announced his 2014 world tour.

With six kids between them, no one would blame Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie if they decided to forget about making movies and live off "Mr & Mrs. Smith" royalties instead. Both stars have hinted that they could be close to retiring, with Pitt even saying in 2011 that he gave himself about three more years. Thankfully, neither of them have followed through with their threats, and are both as busy as ever.

If you catch wind of Anthony Hopkins talking about retirement, you can be pretty sure he's pulling your leg. The rumors have persisted over the years, but the Oscar winner has kept right on working well into his 70s. As he told the Daily Mail in October 2013, "I never slow down because I love to work."

Once upon a time, Leonard Nimoy planned to get out of the acting business for good with J.J. Abrams' 2009 movie, "Star Trek." And then, a few years later, a funny thing happened: Nimoy was not only in the sequel, "Star Trek Into Darkness," but he also squeezed in some voice work in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."