Melissa Villaseor claims her decision to leave “SNL” was very hard to make but it was important for her mental health.
“It was my decision,” Villaseñor told The Daily Beast’s Last Laugh podcast. She went on to explain the terms on which she departed in September. “I gave myself a lot of time in the summer to think on it and kind of play out in my head if I go back. At the end of the day it was about my mental health. Last season, I had a couple of panic attacks. I think it was just. I was struggling. I always felt like I was on the edge of a cliff every week. And I was like, I don’t want to be doing that to myself anymore. And it’s not like the show was mean toward me or anyone. It was just how I handle things.”
Villaseñor admitted the decision “was super hard” to leave SNL after six seasons “because I love Lorne and I am so grateful for all of them for having me.” Even more, being on the show fulfilled a lifelong dream.
“This is all I wanted as a kid,” she said, “so I’m going to carry that forever in my heart, that I got to experience that in my life.”
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For Villaseñor, there were more personal reasons for leaving SNL, as well.
“I think I’m an introvert,” she said “When I’m in a big group of a lot of amazing people, and everyone’s speaking over everyone else, I think I tend to get small. I get nervous, like, where do I fit? What am I supposed to do? That’s how I was in high school, too. And so I think that’s what caused it. And I was like, I think I’m okay. I feel like there’s nothing else that I feel like, oh, I need to be sharing this, I want to do this on the show. I think I’m ready. There was just something telling me, I think I could part ways.”