Barbie Ferreira Has Opened up About Her Decision to Leave 'Euphoria'

In August 2022, Barbie Ferreira announced her departure from Euphoria, Sam Levinson's hit HBO series. For two seasons, the actress portrayed Kat Hernandez, a teenage girl who resolves to fully embrace body positivity and kinks. The show also explored her relationship with Ethan Daley (Austin Abrams).

Barbie didn't initially share details about what propelled her to take the abrupt step, but in a recent appearance on Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard, she opened up about her decision to leave the show. Keep reading for all the known details.

Barbie initially announced her exit via Instagram in August 2022: "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 in a story post.

"I hope many of you could see yourself in her like I did and that she brought joy to see her journey into the character she is today," she added. "I put all my care and love into her, and I hope you guys could feel it. I love you, Katherine 'Kat' Hernandez."

Now, months later, Barbie is speaking out about her decision to leave Euphoria.

During the latest episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, the NYC native said the massive amounts of attention and scrutiny surrounding her exit "was really rough for me." But ultimately, the choice was a "mutual decision."

"I don't think there was a place for [Kat] to go," Barbie said. "I mean, I think that there were places you could go. I just don't think it would have fit into the show. I don't know if it was gonna 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."

Barbie noted that if the opportunity was there and, depending on the material, she would have continued to play Kat "for as long as I was asked." Sadly, things became too complicated. "I felt [it] was a kind of a struggle for both parties. Sam, me — it was a struggle to find a continuation of her," she explained. "That was actually really hurtful watching and seeing the fans get upset."

"I don't know. I just felt like maybe I overstayed my welcome a little bit. So for me, it actually felt good to be like, 'OK, I get to not worry about this, and we both don't get to worry about this,' because Sam writes for things he relates to. I don't think he relates to Kat. I relate to Kat. So I had to follow my own path," Barbie continued.

Speaking of the mutual decision, Barbie noted it was "really freeing for both [Sam and me]," despite how much it hurt her due to the fans' and her own personal love of Kat "with all her good and bad — mostly bad, which I love." Barbie also said this made her and everyone else happier because they can now be free of the "press making it into this drama that it's not."

"It was a character I've never seen on TV before, and I don't know if we'll ever get something like that in that specific way that was so edgy. At first, it was really hard. I'm like, 'OK, now what do I do?'" Barbie added. "And then I really honed in on what I want, and who I want to be, and what kind of actor I want to be, and the kind of person I want to be, and it's been really healing."