31-year-old Emmy Rossum joined the popular television drama series “Shameless” eight years ago.
Even though the audience and cast regard her character “Fiona” to be an influential role on the show, she has decided to quit the popular show after season nine.
Rossum posted a lengthy announcement on her Facebook account on the morning of Aug. 30.
“It’s a hard thing to put into words, feelings. But I’m going to try,” she wrote.
“Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to become truly good at something. To become world class. Well by my calculation, 100 episodes, 7 days per episode (plus Chicago weeks), 12 hour days, we’re just at about 10,000 hours. So I guess we’re finally good at this.”
Rossum played the oldest daughter Fiona Gallagher of a Chicago family. With an alcoholic single father and absent mother, Fiona is often the pillar of the family for her five other siblings.
In fact, Rossum was nominated for best actress eight times for her performance in “Shameless” by the Satellite Awards, Critics Choice Television Awards, and others.
The television series has also been nominated two times for the Golden Globes and eight times for the Emmys, among many other honors.
“Shameless” executive producer and showrunner John Wells released a statement on Aug. 30:
“Quite simply, the last eight years have been the best of my life,” Rossum said.
She ended her letter with, “I know you will continue on without me, for now. There is much more Gallagher story to be told. I will always be rooting for my family. Try not to think of me as gone, just think of me as moving down the block.”
“Shameless” season 9 will premiere on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 9 p.m. PT/ET on Showtime.
