Barbie Ferreira Clarifies Why She Left ‘Euphoria’

Since Ferreira’s departure in 2022, rumors swirled that tensions on set played a role in her exit. Some even speculated that she walked off-set.

However, Barbie Ferreira firmly denied those claims.

Recently, during an interview on “The Viall Files” podcast, the 28-year-old actress talked about her experience portraying Kat Hernandez and shared why she felt it was the right moment to move on after completing two seasons of the show.

Ferreira expressed her view, stating, “I feel like instead of dragging it out for nine months, it was better for both parties to conclude it there.” She added, “It is certainly difficult. I have a deep affection for ‘Euphoria’ and the character of Kat. I have invested a lot of time and energy into portraying her, but sometimes you have to prevent things from going downhill.”

Despite fan theories suggesting otherwise, Ferreira made it clear that the decision for her to leave “Euphoria” wasn’t one-sided.

She clarified, “The decision was mutual. It was definitely not only my choice. Everyone agreed that… there was nowhere else to take the character, which was tough for me because I wondered, ‘What’s next for me?’ However, in the acting industry, situations like this occur frequently, and you need to remain resilient and make decisions that benefit your career.”

Reflecting on the intense speculation surrounding her “Euphoria” exit, Barbie Ferreira opened up about the challenges of navigating rumors and misinformation.

“I was really young, and it was tough,” she admitted. “Obviously, there was a lot of discourse about it that wasn’t true, and I’m a person who just kind of lets everything happen. It’s a popular show, so people took it out of… I never walked off set. There was never anything like that.”

The actress added, “That was a whole thing, ‘She did all this,’ and I was like, ‘I absolutely never did that.’ You could ask the hundreds of people that were there every day. Fan theories are crazy, and most of the time they’re not right, but sometimes they are.”

With so much speculation circulating online, Ferreira admitted that she had to distance herself from social media. “I can’t read it,” she said bluntly.

“Respect to everyone who comments back and claps back and everything,” she laughed. “I have never been that girl. In fact, I just let it go into its own world and then fizzle out because what am I going to do? All I’m going to do is just fuel [it]. They’re not going to listen to me, they’re not going to believe me if I say something.”

Ferreira also revealed that her experience with “Euphoria” changed how she engages with social media.

“When ‘Euphoria’ came out, I was so used to being on the internet. I was always telling everyone everything I was doing, always talking to the camera, just always filling people in,” she shared. “And I think my biggest sacrifice as an actor is that I don’t use the internet for fun anymore.”

She continued, “I mean, obviously, I scroll through TikTok, but I don’t post a lot for fun most of the time. I just feel like it’s not the same being an actor who’s in a show that’s popular.”

While she may have stepped back from social media, Ferreira still keeps in touch with her “Euphoria” co-stars.

“I saw Hunter [Schafer] the other day, I saw Maude [Apatow] the other day,” she revealed. “Sydney [Sweeney] came to see my [Broadway] play [‘Cult of Love’]. They’re all so busy. I mean, I’ve been out of town for like eight months, so whenever we’re in town, we always try to see each other. And they came to support the play, which was really sweet.”

Though Ferreira has moved on from “Euphoria,” the show remains a cultural phenomenon. Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Max, with season 3 set to arrive in 2026.