NCIS star Pauley Perrette reveals why she will ‘never’ return to acting in rare interview

Perrette, who starred as the quirky and lovable forensic scientist Abby on the police procedural, retired from acting in 2018

NCIS star Pauley Perrette has addressed her decision to retire from acting, explaining why fans will “never again” see her on screen.

Perrette, 55, who played the lovable and quirky forensic scientist Abby on the popular CBS police procedural since its 2003 premiere, left the series in 2018 and went into retirement.

Two years later, she briefly returned to front CBS’s short-lived 2020 sitcom Broke, which was canceled after just one season.

Soon after the comedy’s cancelation, Perrette tweeted: “I’m HAPPILY RETIRED! Finally! Woot! All I ever wanted.”

In a subsequent post, she clarified: “Actually I retired after NCIS but BROKE was important, beautiful. I did my last dance & am proud of it! Everyone that knows me knew I was retiring right after. I’m proud of my work. I love you guys! I AM FREE!!! (To be the tiny little simple human I am!).”

Speaking to Hello Magazine in a rare new interview, Perrette discussed why she has no plans of ever returning to the screen.

“I’m not ungrateful for the benefits that it gave to me,” she said of acting. “But 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.”

Pauley Perrette left ‘NCIS’ in 2018 after 15 years on the show (CBS)

Perrette began acting in the Nineties. She landed her first screen credit in a single 1994 episode of ABC’s long-running drama After School Specials. She later made appearances in the Oscar-nominated 2000 comedy Almost Famous and the classic TV drama Dawson’s Creek before landing the role of Abby on NCIS.

For 15 years, she endeared herself to viewers as the goth-dressing, witty forensic scientist, starring alongside Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray and the late David McCallum.

Following her departure, Perrette claimed on X that her exit was due in part to “multiple physical assaults” that occured on set.

A CBS spokesperson shared a statement at the time, acknowledging that “over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern. We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution. We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows.”

NCIS Executive Producer Charles Floyd Johnson shed more light on the incident in an oral history published by The Hollywood Reporter last September.

“In Pauley Perrette’s case, there was an incident with the show with a dog. The dog was Harmon’s, and apparently the dog bit someone,” Johnson said. “Pauley was a huge, huge SPCA [Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] animal person. And then the dog kept coming with Harmon, and she felt it wasn’t safe for the show. By the end of that year, she just felt like it wasn’t working for her anymore, and it was time to move on.”

Harmon, who led the series as special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, remained on the show three years beyond Perrette before exiting in 2021. However, he is still an executive producer for the NCIS franchise.

NCIS will air its season 22 premiere on CBS on October 14.