Six years after announcing her departure from CBS‘s Mom, Anna Faris has reacted to Chuck Lorre‘s comments about her exit.
On Thursday, the actress shared a statement explaining that she “never took a day of [the show] for granted” after series co-creator Lorre wrote in his new memoir Sitcom that he “was, in fact, correct” about his initial reluctance to cast her as Christy Plunkett in the sitcom.
“Yikes. Yes, I read a few things. I really didn’t see that coming. Of course it hurts,” she began in a statement on Instagram. “Chuck gave me a job I loved, and for seven years I never took a day of it for granted. I’m proud of what we made together, and nothing changes how grateful I am for those people and those years.”
Faris continued, “I’ve been sober for a year and a half. I was on a show about recovery and then I lived it. Now I’m healthy, I’m working, and I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. If anyone reading this is where I was, I hope that’s useful. It gets better. I’m proof.”
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Premiering in 2013, Faris starred in the first seven seasons of Mom as recovering alcoholic Christy, who struggles to maintain a job, her family and her sobriety as her mom Bonnie (Allison Janney), who’s also in recovery, moves in with her.
Faris left the show in 2020 to “pursue new opportunities,” leaving Janney as the sole lead for the eighth and final season, which ended in 2021.
In an excerpt from Sitcom, Lorre wrote, “I wasn’t sure Anna would be appropriate for this kind of material. Then I thought about how badly I’d bungled my working relationship with Charlie Sheen.
After his experience with Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men, Lorre recalled conceding, “Someone’s personal life is none of my business. The mom in Mom would be, and should be, Anna Faris.”
Lorre added, “As the years went by, it became apparent that my initial reluctance to hire Anna was, in fact, correct. After six years, she left the show for mysterious reasons that were not mysterious to anyone on the show.”