“Pretty Little Liars” alum Lindsey Shaw is revealing why she left the hit show.
She explained she was “basically let go” from the show due to an issue with drugs.
“When I had my drug problem and I was in between working on stuff, I would never have to address my relationship with food because it was like, I could always just go get more Adderall,” she shared on “Ned’s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide.”
“I basically got let go of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ in season five because of the weight that I had lost, and it was really an embarrassing thing,” she explained. “I didn’t look good too skinny. And then when I started to put the weight back on, I couldn’t handle being too heavy. So, I kind of like played into this dumb cycle.”
Lindsey Shaw attends the “Pretty Little Liars” 100th episode celebration in 2014. She claims she was let go from the show in the fifth season amid her personal struggles with Adderall and disordered eating. (Imeh Akpanudosen)
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Shaw played Paige McCullers on the hit teen drama alongside Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Ashley Benson and Troian Bellisario.
The 34-year-old teared up recalling the moment she was let go from the series by the show’s creator, I. Marlene King.
Lindsey Shaw attends the opening night of Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood Sept. 12, 2019, in Universal City, Calif. (Michael Tran)
“It was so bad. I got called into ‘Pretty Little Liars” creator’s office. And she was just like, ‘So we’re gonna let you go,'” Shaw said. “She was like, ‘It’s not because of your acting, but do you have anybody to talk to?’ And I was like, ‘No,’ you know?
“She’s like, ‘Well, find somebody,’ and ‘We have to let you go now.’”
She did note that as “rough” as being let go was, it was done with “so much care.”
Lindsey Shaw attends an ’80s-themed birthday fundraiser benefiting Boo2Bullying in 2021. Despite being let go from “Pretty Little Liars,” Shaw is still grateful for her time on the show. (Matt Winkelmeyer)
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The former Nickelodeon star also revealed her co-star, Shay Mitchell, noticed she was struggling and tried to lend her support.
“We went to the same nutritionist for a while,” she said of Mitchell. “She was bringing me protein powder. She was like, ‘Girl.’ Yeah, it was awful.”
Lindsey Shaw, left, and Shay Mitchell in a season one episode of “Pretty Little Liars.” (Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content)
Despite being let go from the show, Shaw remains grateful to the writing team behind the series, which brought her character back in the final season.
“They did me so right bringing me back for season seven and letting me say goodbye. I will just never forget that,” she said.
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Shaw said she’s “so much happier” now but is still working through the results of her drug use, noting it derailed her life in regrettable ways.
“I just gave away everything that I cared about,” she said. “I just don’t know that I’ve ever gotten back to the point in my career that I was before that talk, that meeting, or that whole season of using.”
