Taylor Kitsch Is Opening a Nature Retreat as a ‘Tip of the Hat’ to His Sister Getting Sober from Opioids (Exclusive)

Taylor Kitsch is honoring his sister Shelby Kitsch-Best in a special way.

In the mid-2010s, the Friday Night Lights alum, 43, took two years off of work to help Kitsch-Best through her addiction to opioids and other drugs. As a “tip of the hat” to her getting sober, he’s now working to open a nature retreat in the next two years on 22 acres of his land in Bozeman, Mont., to serve the sober community.

“I didn’t even know sober escapes existed until I had the crash course with my sis,” Kitsch tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I was like, ‘Man, it sounds incredible to offer people a chance to reconnect in nature and slow things down.'”

Kitsch — who moved to Bozeman from Austin, Texas, in 2021 after “simplifying everything in my life” — adds that he “couldn’t be more proud of” his sister, who currently works as a traveling nurse in Vancouver.

“She’s incredible,” he says. “Probably the proudest thing I’ve done in my life is sticking with her and being a part of the way it’s turned out.”

While filming the 2023 Netflix drama Painkiller, Kitsch says his sister got to serve as his advisor while he played the role of opioid addict Glen Kryger.

“It’s probably the closest job to me that I’ve ever done,” he says. “And to have her with me on that journey was kind of crazy and really cathartic. It was just an amazing experience to go through that with her, and she helped me enormously on that show. I have nothing but incredible memories from that job. I’m really proud of that one.”

While Kitsch says he didn’t base Kryger on “someone that existed,” he shares he’s never gotten more reach out about a role.

“That was really a beautiful part of it that I didn’t really see coming: how many people that are sober now or fighting sobriety that related to his journey,” he says. “That was incredible. I think I’m always chasing stories worth telling.”

In the future, Kitsch hopes to tell his sister’s story through film or TV.

“I’d like to write and direct that,” he says. “That’s been on my brain a lot lately.”

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But, first comes the nature retreat. Along with the sober community, Kitsch hopes the retreat can serve kids (he’s long worked with the African Children’s Choir) and veterans (he became focused on their issues after working on the 2013 film Lone Survivor).

“You want to go hike, fish, hang out, do nothing, write, read, anything? It’s is all up there for you,” he says.

He also plans to have a sweat lodge on the property where a local shaman can perform ceremonies, a practice he leaned on while prepping for his new Netflix Western American Primeval.

“People will have the opportunity to sweat with him and work on whatever they need to work on,” he says. “It’s been incredibly helpful for me.”

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American Primeval is streaming now.