Barbie Ferreira on her exit from Euphoria: "Don’t believe everything you read."
"I really wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend," Barbie Ferreira says of her Euphoria exit
Barbie Ferreira is setting the record straight when it comes to her exit from HBO’s Euphoria ahead of the Emmy-winning show’s third season. Last year, Ferreira revealed she would no longer play Kat Hernandez following rumors of on-set conflicts with creator Sam Levinson, but now says everything is “good.”
“So, for me, when people ask me about season two, it’s usually they come at me with, like, I was some sort of victim to season two and I’m always like, ‘No, it’s okay, promise. It’s good,’” Ferreira says in an interview on the podcast Armchair Expert. “I kind of got sucked into this drama that I never asked to be in and that I’ve never talked about. I’m of the mindset that if it doesn’t exist I’m not going to address it because then I’m adding fuel to it. It’s taken on a life of its own. Don’t believe everything you read.”
One of the biggest rumors alleged that Ferreira walked off the set of season two following an argument with Levinson.
“I actually did not walk off set,” Ferreira clarifies. “I did sprain my ankle once and had to go get an X-ray. Maybe that’s what they mean?”
The interview does confirm some of the rumored reasoning behind her departure, mainly that Levinson was incapable of continuing Kat’s storyline in a meaningful way after the first season, placing her on the sidelines for season two.
“I don’t think there was a place for [Kat] to go,” Ferreira shares. “I think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show. 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 feel like with season two and certain parts of it, I felt was a kind of a struggle for both parties,” she continues. “Sam, me… it was a struggle to find the continuation of her. So that was actually really hurtful watching it and seeing the fans get upset.”
To be fair, it’s not unusual for Levinson to leave room for plenty of plot holes and stray narratives in his writing, as seen throughout the entirety of Euphoria. Ferreira shares her exit offered some relief from worrying about the status of her character and her continued role in the teen drama.
“I just felt like maybe it’s like I overstayed my welcome a little bit?” Ferreira says. “So, for me, it actually felt good to be like, ‘Okay, I get to not worry about this and we both don’t get to worry about this’ because it’s exhausting.”
In the coming months, Ferreira will star in the culinary thriller House Of Spoils, as well as a remake of the cult horror film Faces Of Death.