For a 15-year-span (more, if you count reruns) Pauley Perrette was pretty much unavoidable on TV. As not just one of the main cast members of unkillable television juggernaut NCIS, but also one of its most recognizable stars—with her character, perky goth forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, being a major part of the show's marketing—Perrette was one of the most popular actors on U.S. primetime TV for more than a decade. And then she walked away from it, leaving NCIS after a scant 350-some episodes in 2018, appearing in a single season of CBS sitcom Broke, and then announcing her retirement from acting altogether. A decision Perrette has now doubled down on, giving a new interview to Hello this week, in which she made it very clear you should not be expecting to see Pauley Perrette on your screens, pretending to be someone else, ever again.
Acknowledging "I'm not ungrateful for the benefits that it gave to me," Perrette—who has spent the four years-post Broke working in documentary production, including a film about LGBT nightclub Studio One—made it clear that she'd "never again" return to the acting field. "I'm a different person now and I want to be here for it—the good and the bad and the painful. I want to be me all the time, and it takes a good amount of courage for me to say that to myself but it's authentically how I feel." In the past, Perrette has spoken about acting as though it were a "drug," saying "What you're looking for with substance abuse is escape. But with acting, you can escape into 1,000 different things without almost killing yourself doing it." (Meanwhile, there are some reports suggesting that the last era of her time on NCIS also just wasn't a happy one; she and co-star Mark Harmon reportedly had on-set strife, although details remain scant, even in oral histories of the show.)
Anyway, Perrette is done with fiction for good, telling Hello, "It's why I only watch documentaries, I want the truth. For me, going back to being an actor would be taking away from this life of true authenticity that I'm living 100% of the time." So don't hold your breath for an Abby reunion on NCIS, naval-crime fans—despite the series recently having been renewed for its 22nd season on the air.
