A year after Pauley Perrette exited NCIS following 15 seasons of quirky forensic-science fun, the actress is now asserting that she has zero intention of ever returning to the show — and that’s because she’s afraid of being in the presence of Mark Harmon, her longtime co-star. In a series of tweets posted on Friday, Perrette appealed to her fans to stop asking her to go back on NCIS, while also promoting her newest show on the network, Broke. Harmon, it seems, is the reason why. “NO I AM NOT COMING BACK! EVER! (Please stop asking?) I am terrified of Harmon and him attacking me. I have nightmares about it,” she wrote. “I have a new show that is SAFE AND HAPPY! You’ll love it!”
In a separate tweet, Perrette also posted two graphic photos of an NCIS crew member with stitches and bruises around his eyelids. “I fought like hell to keep it from happening again! To protect my crew!” she added. “And then I was physically assaulted for saying no and I lost my job.”
While details are fuzzy as to what exactly transpired between Perrette and Harmon, last May, Perrette claimed she endured “multiple physical assaults” during her time on NCIS, although she didn’t name the abuser. “I refused to go low, that’s why I’ve never told publicly what happened,” she wrote at the time. “I have to protect my crew, jobs, and so many people. I’m trying to do the right thing, but maybe silence isn’t the right thing about crime. It’s horrifying. I left.” It was later reported that the animosity between the duo was due to Harmon’s dog violently biting a crew member in 2016, which caused an injury requiring 15 stitches. Perrette reportedly confronted Harmon about jeopardizing the safety of the cast and crew by bringing his untrained dog to set, and he was unmoved by her appeals. As such, the duo rarely appeared onscreen together for Perrette’s remaining two seasons.
