'NCIS' alum Pauley Perrette says she will never return to acting five years after allegations against co-star Mark Harmon

“I'm a different person now,” says the actress, who left the CBS drama after 15 years on the show.

There will never be another Abby Sciuto. Actress Pauley Perrette has departed NCIS six years ago and confirmed that her retirement from acting is permanent.

“I’m not ungrateful for the benefits it has brought me,” Perrette said in a new interview with the website Hello! about acting. “But I’m a different person now and I want to be there for everything – the good, the bad and the painful. I want to be myself all the time, and it takes a lot of courage to say that myself, but it's authentic to how I feel.

Related: NCIS Star Pauley Perrette celebrates a year after recovering from a “serious stroke”: “I’m still here”

After leaving NCIS, Perrette starred in another show CBS: The short-lived sitcom Brokein which she played Jackie, a single mother who takes in her sister and brother-in-law after they are cut off financially by his wealthy parents. Broke aired on CBS from April to June 2020 and was subsequently canceled, following which Perrette announced her official retirement from acting. Since then she has produced documentaries such as Studio One foreverwhich chronicles the history of the titular LA disco.

“At this point in my life I have a deep need to find authenticity in everything, “And being an actor, especially at certain times in my life, was a great escape,” Perrette said. “It's like a drug because I didn't have to be myself, I could be someone else.” My character didn't have all the problems that I had.

She continued: “That’s why I only watch documentaries, I want the truth. For me, returning to acting would mean a loss of this life of true authenticity that I live 100 percent.”

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Perrette's best-known portrayal before her retirement is still Abby Sciuto, the forensic scientist with a lively personality and gothic looks who played her NCIS from its premiere in 2003 to 2018. She was widely described as the most popular woman on primetime television, which is why some fans were shocked when she left the show.

Shortly after her final episode aired, Perrette posted some cryptic tweets referencing “multiple physical assaults” that allegedly took place on the show. CBS spokespeople said at the time: “Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with workplace concerns. We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a solution.” Perrette then tweeted that CBS “has always been so good to me and always had my back.”

A year later, Perrette tweeted in all caps: “No, I’m not coming back! Never! Please stop asking?” In the same tweet, she identified her NCIS Co-star Mark Harmon as the source of her departure from the series, writing, “I'm terrified of him and Harmon attacking me. I have nightmares about it.”

Related: Meet the new Gibbs: Mark Harmon's NCIS: Origins Cast in the lead role in the prequel series

In an oral tradition from NCIS carried out by The Hollywood Reporter On the show's 20th anniversary last year, executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson explained that the cause of Perrette's dissatisfaction was an incident in which Harmon brought his dog to the set and the dog bit someone working on the show.

“In the case of Pauley Perrette, there was an incident with a dog on the show,” Johnson told THR. “The dog belonged to Harmon and apparently the dog bit someone. Pauley was a giant, giant SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) animal man. And then the dog kept coming with Harmon and she felt like he wasn't safe for the show. At the end of the year she just felt like it wasn't working for her anymore and it was time to move on.

Harmon has not commented publicly on the dispute and his representatives did not immediately respond Weekly entertainmentPlease provide further comment. Harmon left NCIS in 2021, although he is involved in the upcoming prequel series NCIS: Origins.

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