Barbie Ferreira Says She Left ‘Euphoria’ Because She Didn’t Want To Play “The Fat Friend”
Barbie Ferreira has offered more of an explanation behind her decision to leave HBO’s Euphoria after the second season.
In a conversation with Dax Shepherd on his Armchair Expert podcast, she explained that she didn’t think there was a place for her character, Kat, to go. “I think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show,” she said. “I don’t know if it was going to do her justice, and I think both parties knew that I really wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend. I don’t want to play that, and I think they didn’t want that either. I would have played her for as long as I was asked to.”
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Last August, Ferreira announced via Instagram that she was exiting the HBO show after two seasons. She played Kat, the best friend of Maddie (Alexa Demie) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) in Season 1, which focused on her journey of self love as a body-conscious teen who starts the school year looking to change her reputation. In Season 2 her character’s storyline included a lie about a terminal illness.
“After four years of getting to embody the most special and enigmatic character Kat, I’m having to say a very teary-eyed goodbye,” she wrote. “I hope many of you could see yourself in her like I did and that she brought you joy to see her journey into the character she is today. I put all my care and love into her and I hope you guys could feel it. Love you Katherine Hernandez.”
There were rumors of on-set tension during the second season between Ferreira and show creator Sam Levinson, but Ferreira attempted to clear the air with Shepherd. “I try to make everyone love me,” she said. “To me, it’s silly [the stories about tension].”
She went to say it was a mutual decision for her to leave the show. “It’s a character I’ve never seen on TV before,” she explained. “It obviously hurts because I love Kat and she was so important to me and to a lot of people, with all her good and bad. It was a character I’ve never seen on TV before and I don’t know if we’ll get something like that in that specific way, which was so edgy.”
I just felt like, maybe it’s like I overstayed my welcome a little bit? So, for me, I actually felt good to be like, ‘Okay, I get to not worry about this and we both don’t get too worried about this,’ because it’s exhausting,” she continued. “It really has been a good thing.”
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